Goran Dević (born 1971) is a

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

n film director, screenwriter and university professor. Born in

Sisak Sisak (; also known by other alternative names) is a city in central Croatia, spanning the confluence of the Kupa, Sava and Odra rivers, southeast of the Croatian capital Zagreb, and is usually considered to be where the Posavina (Sava basin ...

Dević was formally educated at 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 ...

's Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (archaeology department) and the Academy of Dramatic Art (film directing department), where he graduated in 2008, and is teaching since 20122 at the Department of Film and TV Directing. Since the early 2000s Dević directed a number of

short subject 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 or ...

s and short

documentaries A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". The American author and media analyst Bill ...

, including award-winning: ''On the Water'' (2018), ''The Steel Mill Café'' (2017), ''65+'' (2016), ''Two Furnaces for Udarnik Josip Trojko'' (2012), ''Don Juan: Excuse Me, Miss'' (2010), ''The Flood'' (2010), ''Happy Land'' (2009), ''Three'' (2008), ''I Have Nothing Nice to Say to You'' (2005), ''Imported Crows'' (2004) and others. ''Imported Crows'' was awarded at Motovun Film Festival,

Sarajevo Film Festival The Sarajevo Film Festival is the premier and largest film festival in Southeast Europe, and is one of the largest film festivals in Europe. It was founded in Sarajevo in 1995 during the siege of Sarajevo in the Bosnian War, and brings internatio ...

and Croatian Film Days, shown at 10 international festivals. His feature film

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many filmmakers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

(which he co-directed and co-written with Zvonimir Jurić) was a critically acclaimed 2009 psychological war drama titled '' The Blacks''. The film deals with a fictional

Croatian Army The Croatian Army ( or HKoV) is the land force branch of the Croatian Armed Forces. It is numerically the largest of the three branches of the Croatian Armed Forces. The HKoV is the main force for the defense of the country against external threa ...

unit who refuse to lay down their arms following the end of the

Croatian War of Independence The Croatian War of Independence) and (rarely) "War in Krajina" ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Рат у Крајини, Rat u Krajini) are used. was an armed conflict fought in Croatia from 1991 to 1995 between Croats, Croat forces loyal to the Governmen ...

. The film won Jurić and Dević 4 national awards including: the Golden Arena for Best Director at the 2009

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 ...

, the Croatian national film awards, City of Zagreb Award, as well as 8 international awards including: Grand prix on

Ljubljana International Film Festival The Ljubljana International Film Festival (also known as LIFFe) is an international film festival established in 1990 and held annually in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Apart from screenings of Slovenian films, it also regularly features renowned authors' ...

2009, Grand Prix at Auteur Film Festival Serbia 2009, FIPRESCI Award and Special Award for Directing at FilmFestival Cottbus 2009, Crossing Europe Filmfestival Linz and others. It went on to be selected as Croatia's submission to the

83rd Academy Awards The 83rd Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2010 in the United States and took place on February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, be ...

for the

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

, but it failed to make the final shortlist. Retrospectives of his documentaries were screened at ARSENAL CINEMA, Institute for Film (Berlin) and Crossing Europe Filmfestival (Linz), BELDOX (Belgrade), ZAGREBDOX (Croatia) i MAXII, the National Museum of 21st Century Art (Rome). In 2017, Dević has signed the

Declaration on the Common Language The Declaration on the Common Language ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Deklaracija o zajedničkom jeziku, Декларација о заједничком језику, separator=" / ") was issued in 2017 by a group of intellectuals and NGOs from Bosnia and He ...

of the

Croats The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...

Bosniaks The Bosniaks (, Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia (region), Bosnia, today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and who sha ...

and

Montenegrins Montenegrins (, or ) are a South Slavic ethnic group that share a common ancestry, culture, history, and language, identified with the country of Montenegro. Montenegrins are mostly Orthodox Christians; however, the population also includes ...

.Signatories of the Declaration on the Common Language
official website, retrieved on 2018-08-16.

Filmography

Feature film: '' The Blacks'' (''Crnci'', 2009; co-director) Documentaries: *''Self-pleasure among Croatians'' (''Samozadovoljavanje u Hrvata'', 2003) * ''Weekend in Sisak'' (''Vikend u Sisku'', 2001), *''Imported Crows'' (''Uvozne vrane'', 2004), *''I Have Nothing Nice to Say to You'' (''Nemam ti šta reć' lijepo'', 2006), *''Three'' (''Tri,'' 2008), *''All will be alright'' (''Ma sve ce biti u redu'', 2008), *''Happy Land'' (''Sretna zemlja,'' 2009), *The Flood (''Poplava,'' 2010) *Two Furnaces for Udarnik Josip Trojko (''Dvije peći za udarnika Josipa Trojka,'' 2012) *''Don Juan: Excuse me, Miss!'' (2011), *''65+'' (2016), *''The Steel Mill Café'' (''Buffet Željezara,'' 2017), *''In the name of Croatia'' (''U ime Republike Hrvatske'', 2018''),'' *''On the Water'' (''Na vodi,'' 2018), *''The Building'' (''Hrvatskog narodnog preporoda,'' 2022)

References

External links

Goran Dević
at Film.hr * {{DEFAULTSORT:Devic, Goran 1971 births Croatian film directors Croatian screenwriters People from Sisak Golden Arena for Best Director winners Living people Signatories of the Declaration on the Common Language