Lordan Zafranović

11.02.1944, Maslinica na Šolti

 

Director
He took a degree in literature and art history from the Academy of Pedagogy in Split. He later studied film direction at FAMU in Prague, where he graduated in 1981. He started his opus in 1961 with amateur, mostly feature experimental films Dnevnik, Priča, Dah, Kišno i Portreti /u prolazu/, for which he won awards at home and abroad. In 1965 he made his first professional films, such as Ave Marija and Prvi valcer (The First Waltz) (both 1971) and documentaries Antika (1972), Rad zida grad (It\\\'s Hard Work to Build a City, 1975) and Krv i pepeo Jasenovca (1983). He made his feature film debut with Nedjelja (Sunday, 1969), followed by Kronika jednog zločina (Chronicle of a Crime, 1973; won an award in Chicago) which is a compilation of his three short films, and Muke po Mati (Passion According to Matthew, 1975; won the critics’ award at the Pula film festival). In 1978, he started his war trilogy with the film Okupacija u 26 slika (Occupation in 26 Pictures) that won the Great Golden Arena in Pula. It was followed by the other two sequels Pad Italije (The Fall of Italy, 1981, Great Golden Arena in Pula) and Večernja zvona (1986, award for the best director in Pula). Afterwards he made films with love themes Ujed anđela (1984) and Haloa - Praznik kurvi (1988). Sort of a synthesis of Zafranović’s complete work is the documentary Zalazak stoljeća/Testament L. Z. (The Decline of the Century: Testament L.Z., 1994).



Program I

Special program

Program FAS I /short films

Filmography


Related texts

East European Film phenomenon

Controversies by Lordan

FAS- FILMSKI AUTORSKI STUDIO

PRAŠKA ŠKOLA FILMA

Films To Listen To – Music by Alfi Kabiljo

Films by this director

Passion According to Matthew

(1975)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Karpo Aćimović-Godina
Synopsis:

Mate is a worker in a shipyard in Split, having come from the Dalmatian inlands where he still has family. In the big city, he tries to achieve success as a professional boxer. Mate’s younger brother Luka, whose main preoccupation in life is sex, dreams about moving to Germany. He soon starts a relationship with a young girl, Ora, whose only other sexual experience was with her stepfather, whom she believed to be her real father…

color, 35 mm, 104 min

Sunday

(1969)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Predrag Pega Popović
Synopsis:

The story takes place one Sunday in Split. In the morning, after making love to his girlfriend, a young man meets his friends and they spend the whole day cruising around town. Finally, they hijack a bus and come into conflict with a policeman who tries to stop them… For his first feature film Zafranović used an idea from his short film Nedjelja.

b/w (final red-toned sequence), 79'

The Fall of Italy

(Croatia, 1981)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Božidar Nikolić
Synopsis:

On a Dalmatian island, Partisan commandant Davorin murders his friend and fellow warrior Niko and his mistress, Italian collaborator Krasna. Then he marries the beautiful Veronika, a rich local man’s daughter. Thanks to Davorin’s indifference, after the capitulation of Italy, Nazis, Ustashas and Chetniks arrive to the island…

color, digital, 114 minuta

Occupation in 26 Pictures

(Yugoslavia: Croatia, Jadran film, Croatia film, 1978)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Karpo Aćimović-Godina
Synopsis:

The story takes place in Dubrovnik in 1941. The start of war and the power-grab by Ustashas and their allies interrupts the idyllic life of three friends - Croatian Niko, Italian Toni and Jewish Miho. Toni, who is engaged to Niko’s sister Anne, becomes a member of the Black Shirts, while Niko joins the partisans. Anne, in spite of everything marries Toni.

color, filmska vrpca, 116'

Dragi Džoni, kradu ti zlato

(1966)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Andrija Pivčević
Synopsis:

Somebody steals Đoni’s gold in the Split Film Club. He just says: „Fuck me for letting myself be brought to this amateur club!”

10 min

Ljudi / U prolazu

(1967)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Andrija Pivčević
Synopsis:

Professional 35 mm film that is a replica of the film „Portreti u prolazu".

restored copy, 10 min

Dan i noć (Pjaca)

(1966)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Aleksandar Petković - Petko
Synopsis:

The National Square in Split (Pjaca) from morning until night, from birth to death.

15 min

Poslije podne (Puška)

(Yugoslavia: Croatia, 1968)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Ivica Rajković
Synopsis:

The action takes place on a summer afternoon in a park. A young man, a boy and a sparrow live through a drama because the summer heat makes them commit a pointless crime.

b/w, digital restauracija, 16'

Ave Marija / Moje prvo pijanstvo

(1971)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Peđa Popović
Synopsis:

A summer afternoon, heat, love under an olive tree and finally - an explosion of nature and people.

restored copy, 50 min

Antika

(1972)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Tomislav Pinter
Synopsis:

This film belongs to the cycle Art in Yugoslavia. The author shows antique objects and his own view of the fall of the ancient civilization.

15 min

Slobodna interpretacija

(1979)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Ante Verzotti
Synopsis:

This film was made after Zafranović’s film Okupacija u 26 slika was criticized about the authenticity of some of its subject matter. Witnesses talk about events from the war. This film gives answers to those who question the truth.

15 min

Dnevnik

(Kino-klub Split, 1964)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Andrija Pivčević
Synopsis:

A circle closes in space and time.

b/w, digital, 15'

Priča

(1963)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Andrija Pivčević
Synopsis:

This movie is a love story without love.

10 min

Koncert

(1965)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Mićo Drušković
Synopsis:

Musicians play a concert on a beach after a night of drinking.

12 min

Noć i poslije noći noć

(1965)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Mićo Drušković
Synopsis:

This is an experiment about time and space without time and space.

23 min

Živjela mladost / Dnevnik 2

(1965)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
Synopsis:

This film shows the everyday life of a bureaucrat: Instances of rebellion and silence.

17 min

Kišno / Nevina subota

(1965)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Andrija Pivčević
Synopsis:

A girl and a boy lie in bed and talk trivialities about nature, life and love.

10 min

Maestral

(1967)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Ante Verzotti, Lordan Zafranović
Synopsis:

This is the last film about events from the war that Zafranović made for the Split Cinema Club. It is sort of a farewell to his friends. Mistral is the wind that causes nostalgia.

10 min

Mora

(1972)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Ante Verzotti
Synopsis:

Man and the sea in repetition. Time and space limit human freedom until he reaches a state of frenzy and becomes capable of a crime.

40 min

Rad zida grad

(1974)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Peđa Popović, Andrija Pivčević
Synopsis:

This is a poetic story about Split in the 1970s.

32 min

San

(1975)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Peđa Popović
Synopsis:

This is a story about Diocletian’s summer palace and voices of the past.

14 min

ZAVNOH

(1973)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Tomislav Pinter
Synopsis:

The film was made on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of ZAVNOH. It tells the story about originators of Croatian independence within Yugoslavia.

12 min

Večernja zvona

(1986)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Andrija Pivčević
Synopsis:

This is a long history of our country from 1928 to 1948. Tomislav K., an ambitious young Communist, is torn by a conflict between his concept of freedom and ideology, discipline and liquidations undertaken by Communist movement.

color, 122 min

Zagreb živi s Titom

(1980)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: više snimatelja
Synopsis:

Tito is dead and is taken through the city of Zagreb. In this film he is shown alive in the same places that he passes in a coffin.

15 min

Film o gostima i radnicima

(1977)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Tomislav Pinter
Synopsis:

This is a comedy that ridicules self-governance in which workers become owners of a luxury hotel on the Adriatic coast.

60 min

Predgrađe (Ibisa)

(1972)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Tomislav Pinter
Synopsis:

One summer afternoon, three old desperadoes One summer afternoon, three old desperadoes violently shatter a pure and innocent love.

33 min

Zavičaj (Vladimir Nazor)

(1982)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Ante Verzotti
Synopsis:

This is a film about a great Croatian poet and his home-island of Brač.

18 min

Valcer (Moj prvi ples)

(1970)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Peđa Popović
Synopsis:

Maestro Juti works in a dance school in Split. He is a legendary professor in whose school many generations danced their first waltz.

restored copy, 28 min

Haloa (Praznik kurvi)

(1988)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Andrija Pivčević
Synopsis:

A German couple invites a young man to join their vacation on the sunny island of Hvar. Soon, the young man forces the older couple to play his game.

100 min

Krv i pepeo Jasenovca

(1985)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Ivan Orešković, Dragutin Novak, Hinko Carinić
Synopsis:

This film tells the story about the concentration camp run by Ustashas and was made on the 40th anniversary of the inmates’ escape from the camp.

40 min

Zalazak stoljeća (Testament L. Z.)

(1993)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: više snimatelja
Synopsis:

This is an intimate confession by the author. It is a collage of documentary and fictive snapshots from the past and his films. The author questions whether evil and beauty are determined by nature.

190 min

Ubistvo u noćnom vozu

(Yugoslavia, 1972)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Peđa Popović
Synopsis:

This is a story about an old and a young man who are brought together by Destiny while on a trip. The old man reminds the young man of his father, the young man reminds the old man of his lost and meaningless youth.

b/w, 70'

Ujed anđela

(1983)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Karpo Godina
Synopsis:

To start a new life somewhere in a secluded lighthouse is possible only until an Angel appears one day.

96 min

Simfonija nebeskog grada

(2004)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
Synopsis:

This is a film in two parts, without any text. This is the last of five films that the director made during his stay in China in 2003. The film is devoted to Shanghai, the cultural and industrial capital of East Asia. Shanghai’s prosperity began in the first few decades of the twentieth century when the biggest world powers identified their interests in this part of the world.

59 min

Lacrimosa (Osveta je moja)

(1995)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Josef Spelda
Synopsis:

For fifty years a Czech intellectual has lived in a humiliating state of compromise. With the arrival of democracy he hopes to exercise his newly acquired freedom by taking someone’s life.

108 min

Lica terakota

(2003)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
Synopsis:

This is a film about the ”archeological wonder of the 20th century“ - the discovery of the Chinese emperor Yang Chien’s clay army.

29 min

Kronika jednog zločina

(1973)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
PHOTOGRAPHY: Peđa Popović, Ante Verzotti
Synopsis:

This is an omnibus consisting of three stories, which all deal with deviations of the human psyche. In the story Waltz, we learn about the first sexual experiences of a man who attends a dancing school in Split. In the story Ave Maria a cruel crime destroys a pastoral idyll, and in the story Seas, we meet a family living on an isolated island, who go through an existential crisis that will lead to a murder.

color, 100 min

Zeitgeist

(Švicarska, 2018)

Directed by: Lordan Zafranović
Synopsis:

Film je temeljen na istraživanju i izložbi Nataše Mišković „Gradovi u pokretu – postosmansko nasljeđe“, održane u Povijesnom muzeju Srbije 2018. godine, o svakodnevnom životu u Beogradu, Sarajevu, Istanbulu i Ankari 1920-ih i 1930-ih godina. Na podlogu sastavljenu od fascinantnih, ali nepoznatih fotografija objavljenih u ondašnjoj turskoj i jugoslavenskoj dnevnoj štampi, redatelj Lordan Zafranović i Nataša Mišković pokušali su do...

b/w and color, 27'
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