Vinko Brešan

Who is Vinko Brešan?

Vinko Brešan is a Croatian film director who emerged into international renown with three critically acclaimed and award-winning films that, each in its own way, broke some of the perceived taboos of Croatian cinema in the 1990s.

Brešan was born in Zagreb to writer Jela Godlar, who is of part Jewish descent, and famous playwright Ivo Brešan. He studied Philosophy and Comparative Literature at the University of Zagreb, as well as Film and Television Direction at the university's Academy of Dramatic Arts. As a student, he was awarded the Oberhausen debutant prize for his short film Naša burza in 1988.

In 1994 and 1995, Brešan was awarded the Oktavijan prize at the Days of Croatian Film festival for Zajednički ručak and Hodnik respectively.

His first feature-length film Kako je počeo rat na mom otoku, is a humorous microcosmic take on the Yugoslav Wars set in the Dalmatian Adriatic. The film was awarded the Velika zlatna arena for cinematography at the Pula Film Festival and Grand Prize at the 1997 Cottbus Film Festival of Young East European Cinema. It proved to be a tremendous commercial success as well, beating Independence Day at the Croatian box office in 1996 with over 300,000 viewers, and was screened at 32 international film festivals, including Toronto and Montreal.