Vladimir Pogačić director

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Birth: 23. 9. 1919., Karlovac

Death: 13. 9. 1999., Beograd

Pogačić was one of the most famous authors of socialist Yugoslavia in the 1950s. For many years, he was the director of the Yugoslav Cinematheque in Belgrade. Before WW II, he studied art history at the University of Philosophy in Zagreb. After the war, he moved to Belgrade where he attended a film school. From 1945 until 1947, he was the director and dramaturge at Radio Zagreb (today Croatian radio). Before the war, he directed for theatre (in 1947, he directed Puške gospođe Carrar, the first of Brecht’s plays performed in Yugoslavia). He made his film-directing debut in 1948 with Priča o fabrici, like almost all of his later films, produced in Serbia. His most famous works include the first Yugoslav spy film, Poslednji dan (1951), based on Oskar Davičo’s script; Anikina vremena (1954), the first Yugoslav film distributed in the US and based on Ivo Andrić’s short story; Veliki i mali (1956), the first Yugoslav feature film to win an international award (Karlovy Vary, Best Director); Subotom uvečer (1957), dealing with themes representative of that time, and Sam (1959), for its time an unusually psychologically oriented Partisan film. In Croatia, he made his last films Pukotina raja (1959) and Čovjek sa fotografije (1963). He also made several documentaries (e.g. Svjedočanstva o Tesli, 1955) and films for television. From 1954 until 1981, he was the director of the Yugoslav Cinematheque. During his tenure there, he improved its activities and received international acclaim. From 1969 to 1971, and from 1979 to 1981, he was the vice president of FIAF (International Organization of Film Archives), and from 1972 to 1979, its president. He was also the vice president of the Council for Film, Radio and Television (CICT) with UNESCO. He taught at the Academy for Theatre, Film, Radio and Television (later the University of Drama Arts) in Belgrade, and was the editor of the magazine Film Danas.

Awards:
Pula 56' - Critics’ award for his work with actors
Pula 57' - Second award for Best Director; Yugoslav Film Critics’ Award for Best Director (together with Fedoro Hanžeković for Svoga tela gospodar)