Croatia / 2019. / 51’ / Documentary

Directed by: Branko Šmit

Produced by: HRT

Ivo Gregurević lived his life like in the movies. Branko Schmidt, his close friend, and associate decided to make a very personal biopic about him. Interviews with various people showed the unknown side of Ivo. Ivo, who hated to be alone, called people in the middle of the night, visited people without calling first, drew people around him. And then, life decided to be ironic: Ivo danced his last dance alone, in the night between January 1 and 2, 2019. The film had its world premiere in Orašje, the hometown of Ivo Gregurević, the place where this actor established Days of Croatian Films.

 

 

Branko Schmidt

Born in 1957 in Osijek, Croatia. After studying economics, he enrolled at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb, Film and TV Directing Department. In 1981 he directed his graduating film – TV play Early Maturing of Marko Kovač. In 1988 he directed his first feature, Hawk did not Love Him, co-written with Fabijan Šovagović and won the Best Debutant Award at the Pula Film Festival. After that, he directed Đuka Begović, Vukovar: The Way Home, Christmas in Vienna  – about sensible individuals amidst the horrors of war, and won the Golden Arena for the Best Screenplay in Pula in 1997. Three years later, he won the same award for his film Queen of the Night, Croatian entry for the Academy Award. His most awarded film, a drama about human trafficking, Mellon Route. In 2009, Metastases 2009 won the Golden Arena in Pula, and the Best Film Award at the Belgrade Film Festival FEST and was the first in a series of three films. The second was Vegetarian Cannibal  in 2012, and the third was Agape in 2017. These films are about the issues of contemporary Croatian society, such as nationalism, corruption, criminal, disapproval of diversity. The documentary Close to Heart – Ivo Gregurević is a tribute to this great Croatian and Yugoslav actor.

 

 

 

 

*Serbian premiere