Ivo Škrabalo

Who was Ivo Škrabalo?

Ivo Škrabalo was a Croatian film critic, screenwriter, and member of parliament.

Škrabalo was born in Sombor, where he finished elementary and high school before moving to Zagreb in 1952. He enrolled at the University of Zagreb's Faculty of Law and earned a MSc in international law, with a doctoral thesis on the creation of Bangladesh.

He also studied at the Zagreb Academy of Dramatic Art and graduated from its film directing department. Škrabalo then worked as a dramaturge at Zagreb-based film studios Zagreb Film and Jadran Film and was later hired as an advisor at Croatia Film in the late 1960s. He directed a number of short films and wrote or co-wrote several screenplays for feature films including the 1970 comedy classic One Song a Day Takes Mischief Away.

Škrabalo was also a prolific film critic and he made significant contributions to film publications published by the Miroslav Krleža Lexicographical Institute. He also authored four books about the history of Croatian cinema, including his seminal work 101 Years of Film in Croatia 1896–1997 published in 1998. He also gained some fame for quirky translations of titles of imported pornographic films which entered nationwide distribution in Yugoslavia in the 1980s.