Bogdan Žižić (8 November 1934 – 29 April 2021)Majstor kratke forme: Odlazak jednog od najvažnijih hrvatskih i jugoslavenskih redatelja
was a Croatian

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

and

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

. Žižić was regarded as one of the most prolific Croatian directors of short documentary films, and was also known for several critically acclaimed feature films made in the 1970s. Žižić had graduated from the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb (, ) is a public university, public research university in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest Croatian university and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe. The University of Zagreb and the Unive ...

Faculty of Law before taking up filmmaking in the early 1960s. From 1960 to 1964 he worked as a

dramaturge A dramaturge or dramaturg (from Ancient Greek δραματουργός – dramatourgós) is a literary adviser or editor in a theatre, opera, or film company who researches, selects, adapts, edits, and interprets scripts, libretti, texts, and pr ...

at the

Zagreb Film Zagreb Film is a Croatian film company principally known for its animation studio. From Zagreb, it was founded in 1953. They have produced hundreds of animated films, as well as documentaries, television commercials, educational films and several ...

production company, and he had his directing debut with the 1964 film ''The Flood'' (), a documentary about the 1964 Zagreb flood. He went on to make a number of acclaimed documentaries in the 1960s and 1970s, mostly dealing with social issues and art. After making a few surrealist experimental

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

s in the early 1970s, Žižić started making feature films, his most notable works being ''The House'' (''Kuća'', 1975) and ''Don't Lean Out the Window'' (''Ne naginji se van'', 1977), which both won the Big Golden Arena for Best Film awards at the 1975 and 1977 editions of the

Pula Film Festival Pula Film Festival () is an annual Croatian film festival, established in 1954. It is held in a Roman amphitheater known as the Pula Arena. Pula Film Festival is the oldest Croatian film festival and is usually held in the summer, in July or Aug ...

. This made him the only film director whose first two feature films both won the award. In the second half of the 1980s and in the early 1990s Žižić served as head of Zagreb Film. In 2008 Žižić was awarded the

Vladimir Nazor Award The Vladimir Nazor Award () is a Croatian prize for arts and culture established in 1959, and awarded every year by the country's Ministry of Culture. Named after the writer Vladimir Nazor (1876–1949), the prize is awarded to Croatian artists ...

for Life Achievement, and in 2009 Žižić was named as the inaugural winner of the Honorary Stamp life achievement award "for contributions to documentary filmmaking" at the 2009

ZagrebDox ZagrebDox is an international documentary film festival launched in 2005 which takes place in Croatia's capital Zagreb every year. The festival showcases creative documentary features from around the world, and also includes workshops for prospect ...

film festival, along with American filmmaker

Jon Alpert Jon Alpert (born c. December 13, 1948) is an American journalist and documentary film, documentary film director, filmmaker, known for his use of a cinéma vérité approach in his films. Life and career A native of Port Chester, New York, Jo ...

Filmography

*'' The House'' (''Kuća'', 1975) *'' Don't Lean Out the Window'' (''Ne naginji se van'', 1977) *'' Whatever You Can Spare'' (''Daj što daš'', 1979) *'' Early Snow in Munich'' (''Rani snijeg u Münchenu'', 1984) *'' The Price of Life'' (''Cijena života'', 1994)

References

External links

*
Bogdan Žižić biography
at Filmski-Programi.hr {{DEFAULTSORT:Zizic, Bogdan 1934 births 2021 deaths People from Solin Croatian film directors Croatian screenwriters Vladimir Nazor Award winners Yugoslav film directors