Dušan Kovačević

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**Dušan Kovačević**

Born:	July 12, 1948 Mrđenovac, FPR Yugoslavia (now Serbia)
Occupation:	playwright and director

Dušan Kovačević (Serbian Cyrillic: Душан Ковачевић; born July 12, 1948 in Mrđenovac, Vojvodina, Yugoslavia, now Serbia) is a Serbian playwright and director best known for his theater plays and movie scripts. As of 2005 he was appointed as ambassador of Serbia in Lisbon, Portugal.

He graduated from a gymnasium in Novi Sad, and received a bachelor's degree in dramaturgy from the University of Belgrade in 1973. From 1973, he worked as a dramaturge at TV Beograd for five years. Since 1998, he has been the Artistic Director of Zvezdara teatar. In 2003 he directed his first movie, Profesionalac (The Professional).

Kovačević's prolific work is well known and popular in Serbia. His comedies have been translated into 17 languages, but his work didn't become available in English until the mid-1990s. One of his plays, Balkan Spy was being rehearsed in Beijing at the time of Tiananmen Square protests, only to be cancelled by the authorities.

A declared royalist, Dušan Kovačević is a member of the Crown Council of Aleksandar Karađorđević. He is also a corresponding member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Some of Kovačević's work includes:

Plays

Radovan Treći - Radovan III (1973)
Maratonci trče počasni krug - Marathon Runners Run a Lap of Honor (1973)
Sabirni centar - The Gathering Place (1982)
Balkanski špijun - Balkan Spy (1982)
Sveti Georgije ubiva aždahu - St. George kills the Dragon (1984)
Klaustofobicna Komedija - Claustrophobic Comedy (1987)
Profesionalac - The Professional (1990)
Urnebesna Tragedija - Roaring Tragedy (also translated as Tragedy Burlesque; 1990)
Lari Tompson, tragedija jedne mladosti - Larry Thompson, the Tragedy of a Youth (1996)
Kontejner sa Pet Zvedica - Five-Star Dumpster (1999)
Doktor Šuster - Doctor Shoemaker (2001)

Films

Specijalno vaspitanje - Special Treatment (1978)
Ko to tamo peva - Who's Singing Over There? (1980)
Bila jednom jedna zemlja - Underground (Once Upon a Time was a Land) (1995)

Underground, directed by Emir Kusturica, won the Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival. It was Kovačević's adaptation of an earlier play called Proleće u januaru (Spring in January). He has written film adaptations of Marathon Runners (The Marathon Family (1982)), The Gathering Place, Balkan Spy, and The Professional, as well.