Vatroslav Mimica

Who is Vatroslav Mimica?

Vatroslav Mimica is an award-winning Croatian film director and screenwriter.

Born in Omiš, Mimica had enrolled at the University of Zagreb School of Medicine before the outbreak of World War II. In 1942 he joined Young Communist League of Yugoslavia and in 1943 he went on to join the Yugoslav Partisans, becoming a member of their medical units. After the war Mimica wrote literary and film reviews, and his career in filmmaking began in 1950 when he became the director of the Jadran Film production studio.

He had his directorial and screenwriting debut in the 1952 Yugoslav film In the Storm which starred Veljko Bulajić, Mia Oremović and Antun Nalis. In the 1950s Mimica worked as a director and writer on a number of critically acclaimed animated films and became a prominent member of the Zagreb School of Animated Films, along with authors such as Vlado Kristl and Academy Award-winning Dušan Vukotić.

In the 1960s Mimica moved away from animation and turned to directing feature films, starting with the 1961 Yugoslav-Italian film Suleiman the Conqueror starring Edmund Purdom and Giorgia Moll. His 1965 film Prometheus of the Island won the Big Golden Arena for Best Film at the 1965 Pula Film Festival and earned Mimica a runner-up Silver Arena award for Best Director. It was also entered into the 4th Moscow International Film Festival winning a Special Diploma.