Lordan Zafranović

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations.
You can improve this article by introducing more precise citations.

Lordan Zafranović (born 11 February 1944 in Maslinica on the island of Šolta), is an acclaimed Croatian film director.

After receiving a degree in literature and visual arts at the University of Split, Zafranović enrolled at the famous FAMU in Prague where he studied film directing and where he eventually graduated in 1981. He is therefore considered part of the so-called Prague School, a group of acclaimed Yugoslav directors of the 60's and 70's who all studied there. His first films made in the early 1960's were mostly experimental shorts with grotesque and absurdist influences. His first notable efforts and films that marked the beginning of his regular feature filmmaking were Chronicle of a Crime (1973) and Passion According to Matthew (1975), the latter earning him the critics' award at the Pula Film Festival.

His most important work, the first part of his WWII trilogy, Occupation in 26 Pictures (1978) followed. This drama following a story of three young men's friendship set in World War II Dubrovnik went on to win the Big Golden Arena for Best Picture at Pula Film Festival and was a huge box office hit in Yugoslavia. The other two parts of his WWII trilogy were The Fall of Italy (1981) and Evening Bells (1986). In the mid 1980's he turned to more intimate love themes, with films such as An Angel's Bite (1984) and Aloa: Festivity of the Whores (1988). In the meantime he also directed numerous tv productions for Radio Television Belgrade and Radio Television Zagreb.

During the political turmoil in the early 1990's he moved to Prague and slowly sinked into obscurity. In his later years he produced a documentary feature called The Decline of the Century: Testament L.Z. (1994), and a film in Czech called Revenge (1995).

[edit] Filmography

Sunday (Nedjelja) (1969)
Chronicle of a Crime (Kronika jednog zločina) (1973)
Passion According to Matthew (Muke po Mati) (1975)
Occupation in 26 Pictures (Okupacija u 26 slika) (1978)
The Fall of Italy (Pad Italije) (1981)
An Angel's Bite (Ujed anđela) (1984)
Evening Bells (Večernja zvona) (1986)
Aloa: Festivity of the Whores (Haloa - praznik kurvi) (1988)
The Decline of the Century: Testament L.Z. (Zalazak stoljeca (Testament L.Z.)) (1994)
Revenge (Ma je pomsta) (1995)