International documentary film festival
April 14 - 21, 2024
Kaptol Boutique Cinema, Zagreb

Once There Was a Man (Bil jedon)

Hrvoje Hribar

Once There Was a Man

A film about the exploits of a fisherman from the island of Vis, about a man who set sail as Don Quixote and returned to port as a king. At the center of the story is the hunt for a very moody fish, and large parts of the film are thrillingly spontaneous. Other scenes are expressly acted, as if in some kind of low-budget neorealist film. In the making of this film, Hrvoje Hribar relied on his thoughts on the nature and purpose of documentary work. He allowed himself directorial, as well as production-related and narrative freedom, and the result is a film independent of well-established cinematography and its petrified prejudices. Once There Was a Man captured the uniqueness of life, and you will enjoy it as if it were a love adventure.

2001, '43

DIRECTOR: Hrvoje Hribar

PRODUCTION: FIZ-production, HRT

FESTIVALS & AWARDS:

Days of Croatian Film: Best Screenplay; Best Editing (2002)

Hrvoje Hribar

Hrvoje Hribar

Hrvoje Hribar is a film director and producer. He graduated in film directing from the Academy of Dramatic Art. He produced and directed the comedy What Is a Man Without a Moustache? (2005), the most watched Croatian film of the 2000s, and wrote, directed and produced two documentary films before that (The World Is Great, 1999 and Once There Was a Man, 2001), as well as his feature debut The Tranquilizer Gun (1997). He directed and wrote the TV film Croatian Cathedrals (1992) and the short film Between Zaghlul and Zaharias (1994). In 2001, he directed the TV series New Age for Croatian Radiotelevision. He won the Oktavijan Award for Best Film a number of times (The Tranquilizer Gun, Once There Was a Man and Between Zaghlul and Zaharias). Since November 2008, he has been serving as a member of the Executive Committee of the Federation of European Screen Directors, and from September 2010 to February 2017 he was the Chief Executive Officer of the Croatian Audiovisual Centre. He is a member of the Croatian Film Directors’ Guild and the Croatian Producers Association. In 2011 he won the Albert Kapović Award of the Croatian Producers Association for his contribution to Croatian film, and in 2013 he was awarded the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture for his contribution to cultural cooperation and strengthening the ties between the Croatian and French audiovisual sector.

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