Krsto Papić
07.12.1933, Vučedol - 07.02.2013
the assistant director to famous directors such as Fedor Hanžeković and Veljko
Bulajić. He made his directing debut in 1965 with one of the episodes in the
omnibus Ključ. He made his first feature film in 1967 (Iluzija).
Afterwards, for his film Lisice he won the Golden Arena for the best film
and director in Pula; this film is considered to be one of the most important
works of the Yugoslavian so-called Black wave. His later film with a similar
ambience was the adaptation of Brešan’s drama Predstava Hamleta u selu Mrduša
Donja (1973). He made the first Croatian horror film, Izbavitelj,
in 1976 and won the Grand Prix at the festival in Trieste. Often relying on
methods of film of truth, he made many documentaries and short feature films,
often dealing with contemporary social and political themes.
Filmography
Kad mrtvi zapjevaju (1999)
Priča iz Hrvatske (1991)
Život sa stricem (1988)
Tajna Nikole Tesle (1980)
Izbavitelj (1976)
Predstava Hamleta u selu Mrduša Donja (1973)
Lisice (1969)
Iluzija (1967)
Ključ (epizode Čekati, 1965)
Filmografija (documentary and short films):
Borovo - institut (1986)
Nezaposlena žena s djecom (1986)
50 godina Borova - Priča o obuci - Borovo (1981)
Vlakom u operu (1976)
Charter let br… (1975)
Mala seoska priredba (1972)
Specijalni vlakovi (1972)
Nek se čuje i naš glas (1971)
Čvor (1970)
Kad te moja čakija ubode (1968)
Halo, München (1968)
Related texts
Films by this director
Handcuffs
(Yugoslavia, Jadran film, 1970)
Directed by: Krsto Papić
PHOTOGRAPHY: Vjenceslav Orešković
Synopsis:
The story takes place in the Dalmatian inlands during 1948, following the Inform Bureau’s resolution. Forty-year-old Ante marries a much younger woman, Višnja. Two members of the Yugoslav State Security Service crash his wedding party with the intention of arresting somebody, but nobody knows whom. The groom’s godfather Andrija is a member of the local political establishment, and has no fear from the newcomers. During the wedding, tension builds…
b/w, 35 mm, 77'
Iluzija
(1967)
Directed by: Krsto Papić
PHOTOGRAPHY: Krešimir Grčević
Synopsis:
The story takes place Zagreb. The elder Branko and his younger brother Ivo are from the Dinara Mountains. A conflict between them arises because of Ela, the daughter of a bourgeois family...
b/w, 81'
Predstava Hamleta u Mrduši Donjoj
(1973)
Directed by: Krsto Papić
PHOTOGRAPHY: Vjenceslav Orešković
Synopsis:
In a Dalmatian village an amateur theatre, Mrduša Donja, puts Shakespeare’s Hamlet on stage. The relationships between characters in the play surprisingly overlap with those between the actors in reality. During rehearsals, it turns out that a member of local political establishment Bukara, who claims to have been a member of partisans, never even came close to being one…
color, 35mm, 82 min
Izbavitelj
(Yugoslavia, 1976)
Directed by: Krsto Papić
PHOTOGRAPHY: Ivica Rajković
Synopsis:
Poor writer Ivan Gajski falls in love with Sonja, professor Bošković’s daughter. At the same time he realizes that some strange breed of rats, which has the ability to turn into people, is taking over the city. The rats’ leader is the mysterious Rescuer...
color, 35 mm, 79'
Tajna Nikole Tesle
(1980.)
Directed by: Krsto Papić
PHOTOGRAPHY: Ivica Rajković
Synopsis:
Young and talented inventor, Nikola Tesla arrives to America, where he starts working for the famous inventor Edison. Soon, he wins over the financier George Westinghouse for his independent projects. Rich J.P. Morgan, Edison’s financier, also shows an interest in Tesla’s work. However, Edison will stop at nothing to eliminate his unwanted rival…
35mm widescreen, color, 108 min
Život sa stricem
(1988)
Directed by: Krsto Papić
PHOTOGRAPHY: Boris Turković
Synopsis:
The story takes place in contemporary Zagreb. A feeble old man is lying on his deathbed. He is a former partisan and a member of Communist party, who has not talked to his nephew, Martin, for years. Now, he contacts Martin, the eminent writer, and asks him to organize his funeral with a priest. The action goes back to 1951 to Knin, when Martin, at the time a high school student, asked a favor of his uncle when local members of the party refused Martin’s scholarship.
color, 116'
Priča iz Hrvatske
(Croatia, 1991)
Directed by: Krsto Papić
PHOTOGRAPHY: Vjekoslav Vrdoljak
Synopsis:
After the breaking of the mass movement in 1971, student Ilija Barić has to leave the country because of his political beliefs. His father Luka loses his job and goes to Germany to work. After Tito’s death in 1980, new political trends start to emerge, but repression is still strong. Ten-year-old Ivan, Ilija’s brother, who is in love with Marina, chief of police and hardcore Communist Andrija’s daughter, feels the repression on his own skin.
color, digital, 98'
Kad mrtvi zapjevaju
(Croatia, Jadran film, Croatia radio televizija, 1998)
Directed by: Krsto Papić
PHOTOGRAPHY: Vjekoslav Vrdoljak
Synopsis:
At the beginning of the 1990s, two Croatian emigrants - economic Cinco and political Marinko - arrive in Croatia from Germany, longing for their families and hometowns. In order to get a German pension, Cinco pretends to be dead and travels in a coffin. Soon, Marinko joins him because he is running away from an old agent of the Yugoslav Secret police who wants to kill him in order to earn his retirement.
color, 35 mm, 102'
Infekcija
(2003)
Directed by: Krsto Papić
PHOTOGRAPHY: Goran Trbuljak
Synopsis:
In an unnamed central European country, democracy and freedom function only on the surface. Behind a sophisticated façade, murders and criminal manipulation are hidden. The police and the government are powerless and the criminals soon try assassinate the mayor. Writer Ivan Gajski, whose friend died under suspicious circumstances, starts his own investigation…
super 16mm Kodak transferred to 35mm, color, 105 minuta
Mala seoska priredba
(Croatia, 1972)
Directed by: Krsto Papić
PHOTOGRAPHY: Ivica Rajković
Synopsis:
Prikaz seoske priredbe, čiji organizatori seljacima predstavljaju festival pop-glazbe i biranje misice sela. Prebačeni iz grada u selo, ti događaji pretvaraju se u urnebesnu karikaturu.
color, digital restauracija, 18'
Čekati
(1965)
Directed by: Krsto Papić
PHOTOGRAPHY: Tomislav Pinter
Synopsis:
Married students, Ivan and Sonja, live in an old woman's apartment. She is sick and the couple hopes that she will die soon, so that they may inherit her apartment and solve their housing issue. Čekati is the second episode of the omnibus Key and Ante Peterlić was assistant director to Krsto Papić.
35mm widescreen, b/w, 40 min
Hallo, Munich
(1968)
Directed by: Krsto Papić
PHOTOGRAPHY: Krešo Grčević
Synopsis:
Svakodnevica Dalmatinske zagore mijenja se onim što donose gastarbajteri povratnici - automobilima, radio-aparatima i novim načinom života. Produkcija: Zagreb film – Studio za dokumentarni film (SDF)
b/w, 13'09''
Čvor
(1969)
Directed by: Krsto Papić
PHOTOGRAPHY: Vjenceslav Orešković
Synopsis:
Film o radnicima i putnicima koji, u potrazi za poslom i boljim životom, prolaze kroz željeznički kolodvor u Vinkovcima, najveći željeznički prometni čvor u ovom dijelu Europe. Produkcija: Zagreb film – Studio za dokumentarni film (SDF)
b/w, 11'19''
Nek se čuje i naš glas
(Yugoslavia, Zagreb film, 1971)
Directed by: Krsto Papić
PHOTOGRAPHY: Ivica Rajković
Synopsis:
Ovaj urnebesno smiješan dokumentarni film opisuje ilegalne radio-stanice u Zagorju i Podravini. Krsto Papić seljake koji vode radio-stanice prikazuje kao nositelje trijumfa narodskog duha i privatnog poduzetništva nasuprot uštogljenom državnom službeniku koji priča o političkoj, društvenoj, moralnoj i materijalnoj štetnosti tih stanica. Papićeva oda buntovnom narodu napravljena 1971. g. nije dobro legla vlastima, ali film nije bio zabranjen. Na tada najvažnijem...
color, digital, 16'
Kad te moja čakija ubode
(Croatia, 1969)
Directed by: Krsto Papić
PHOTOGRAPHY: Krešo Grčević
Synopsis:
Kroz izjave počinitelja, svjedoka i lokalnog pjesnika filozofa opisuje se pojava čestih ubojstava nožem čakijom u bosanskim selima u okolici Tuzle... Istovremeno šokantan, tužan i smiješan, Papićev sjajni cinéma-vérité dokumentarac dočarava naglost i nasilnost balkanskog temperamenta. Sličnu temu ruralne težnje nasilju Papić je obradio u svojem najslavnijem igranom filmu Lisice. Film je osvojio nagradu za najbolji dokumentarni film na Festivalu jugoslavenskog...
b/w, digital restauracija, 17'
Specijalni vlakovi
(Croatia, 1972)
Directed by: Krsto Papić
PHOTOGRAPHY: Ivica Rajković
Synopsis:
Dramatične sudbine ljudi iz „specijalnih vlakova“, željezničkih kompozicija kojima su se iz socijalističke Jugoslavije organizirano prevozili gastarbajteri na rad u Njemačku… Ovaj sjajni dokumentarac Krste Papića kroz ispovjedne izjave bijesnih i tužnih gastarbajtera te uljepšane izjave organizatora putovanja razotkriva laž i stvarnost jugoslavenskog socijalističkog sustava. Papić kroz završne prizore dehumanizirajućih postupaka njemačkih vlasti pokazuje da ni n...
b/w, digital restauracija, 15'
Jedno malo putovanje
(1975)
Directed by: Krsto Papić
PHOTOGRAPHY: Ranko Mitić
Synopsis:
Kratki dokumentarac prati skupinu provincijskih školaraca na njihovoj ekskurziji u glavnom gradu te posjet koncertu Zagrebačke filharmonije u Dvorani Vatroslava Lisinskog.