Cinema of Croatia

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Cinema of Yugoslavia

The cinema of Croatia has suffered in recent years, with quality films being few and far between in comparison to other countries. Its films are heavily influenced by surrounding countries, more specifically, countries from the former Yugoslavia.

History

Although motion pictures appeared in Croatia relatively early, for most of 20th Century the film was almost exclusively in the domain of few dedicated and amateurish enthusiasts, most notably Josip Karaman in Split and, later, Oktavijan Miletić in Zagreb. Croatia lacked political, economic and cultural infrastructure able to support its own cinema industry. Most serious effort in that direction before World War Two was the series of educational films produced by Škola narodnog zdravlja.

Cinema of Croatia became institution after the establishment of Independent State of Croatia in 1941. New Ustasha regime quickly realised that the need for modern propaganda tools modeled after Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. After serious lobbying among those two governments for technical advice and resources, first propaganda films were made in late 1941. Croatian filmmakers like Branko Marjanović learned very quickly and 1943 documentary Straža na Drini later won prestigious Golden Lion award at Venice Film Festival, attended by Axis Powers countries.

After collapse of NDH in 1945, victorious Tito's Communists also recognised importance of film industry and decided to build their own film industry. In Zagreb they inherited technical equipment, and more importantly, decided to keep the NDH-trained personnel, including directors and top officials. Result of such policy was rapid development of Croatian film industry, although initially under jurisdiction of federal government in Belgrade.

In 1947 Jadran Film studios were founded in Zagreb. A year later, Tito's Yugoslavia broke up with other Eastern Bloc countries and gradually opened economic and other links to West. That included film industry, with Jadran Film infrastructure being used by Italian, West German and American filmmakers to produce historical epics, and, later spaghetti westerns. Whole new generation of filmamakers was thus formed, and many important experiences learned in this way. Zagreb also excelled in its own animation film school, with most notable man being Dušan Vukotić, winner of 1963 Oscar for his animated short Surogat.

Croatian feature films at that time were, however, indistiguishable from the rest of films made in former Yugoslavia, mostly due to free flow of resources and talents, and until 1970s it was hard to regocnise Croatian film industry as separate entity. Some actors like Boris Dvornik emerged as genuine stars, as well as well-respected directors like Krešimir Golik, Branko Bauer and Vatroslav Mimica. Croatian film industry will later receive additional boost in the form Radiotelevizija Zagreb (now Croatian Radiotelevision), founded in 1956 - another training ground for talents.

In early 1970s, following Yugoslav constitutional changes, Croatia gained more autonomy in shaping its cultural affairs. This, ironically, had long-term detrimental effects on Croatian film industry. Following the collapse of Croatian Spring, Croatian Communist authorities in 1970s pushed for tighter control over films. This reflected not only in their general content - much more restricted compared with other Yugoslav republics - but also in greater role of state in financing films, which in turn, created whole new generation of "acceptable" filmmakers immune from criticism and public. As a result, general quality of Croatian films declined, especially when the older generation died or retired.

Those problems continued even when Croatia became independent. Due to wars, the market for Croatian films shranked and none of Croatian films could expect to be financially viably without even greater support of state, this demanding more nationalist content, making it less accessible not only to audiences in other countries, but also in Croatia itself.

Cinema of Croatia

History

See also