Krsto Papić

Directing

Krsto Papić

Born 1933-12-07 · Vučji Do, Montenegro

Krsto Papić (7 December 1933 – 7 February 2013) was a Croatian screenwriter and film director whose career spanned several decades. Papić was born in Vučji Do, near Nikšić in today's Montenegro. His early feature films and documentaries were part of Croatian and Yugoslav New Cinema, and often regarded as Croatian echo of the Black Wave artistic movement that mostly took place within Serbia. Additionally, Papić himself was connected to the Croatian Spring political movement during the early 1970s. He was the member of the Zagreb filmophile circle influenced by the French New Wave, so-called "Hitchcockians", along with film-makers and critics Ante Peterlić, Zoran Tadić, Branko Ivanda, Petar Krelja and centered around film critics Vladimir Vuković and Hrvoje Lisinski. Papić's two best-known early feature films, Lisice and Predstava Hamleta u Mrduši Donjoj, were often attacked from the government sources. Lisice did not get permission to represent Yugoslavia in the Cannes Film Festival, so it entered Quinzaine program in 1970.Izbavitelj was heavily criticised by Stipe Šuvar, who alluded that film's allegory about Fascism actually also refers to the Communism. Papić's subsequent feature films were more classical in its narration, but again politically controversial in the last decade of Yugoslavia. Particularly My Uncle's Legacy, critical picture of Yugoslavia's political situation under titoism during Informbiro period, which won nomination for Golden Globe in 1989, has been surrounded by controversy and political attacks from traditional Party circles and especially Partisan Veterans' organisations, so the production was delayed for couple of years, but achieved due to support of intellectuals, newspapers and Party fractions in the time of disolvement and fight among Party fractions in last years of the Yugoslav federation. Papić was awarded with Croatia's highest Vladimir Nazor Award for live achievement in cinema in 2006, and with Grand Prix Special des Amériques at the Montreal Film Festival in 2004.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

The Secret of Nikola Tesla poster
6.3

Life and times of Nikola Tesla, famous scientist whose inventions were stolen, but whose greatest contribution to mankind remain a mystery to this day.

The Secret of Nikola Tesla

1980

The Secret of Nikola Tesla poster
6.3

Life and times of Nikola Tesla, famous scientist whose inventions were stolen, but whose greatest contribution to mankind remain a mystery to this day.

The Secret of Nikola Tesla

1980

When the Dead Start Singing poster
6.0

At the beginning of 1990s, two Croatian emigrants, economically minded Cinco and politically minded Marinko, arrive in Croatia from Germany, homesick for their families and hometowns. In order to get a German pension, Cinco pretends to be dead and travels in a coffin. Soon, Marinko joins him because he is running away from an old agent of the Yugoslav State Security Service. On their trip in a motor hearse, Cinco and Marinko face many adventures, which culminate when they are stopped at Serbian barricades close to their destination.

When the Dead Start Singing

1998

When the Dead Start Singing poster
6.0

At the beginning of 1990s, two Croatian emigrants, economically minded Cinco and politically minded Marinko, arrive in Croatia from Germany, homesick for their families and hometowns. In order to get a German pension, Cinco pretends to be dead and travels in a coffin. Soon, Marinko joins him because he is running away from an old agent of the Yugoslav State Security Service. On their trip in a motor hearse, Cinco and Marinko face many adventures, which culminate when they are stopped at Serbian barricades close to their destination.

When the Dead Start Singing

1998

Infection poster
6.0

In a fictional Central European country democracy and freedom are only illusion, because behind polished surface there's many cases of murders and manipulations with the people. Police and city authorities are helpless when it comes to revealing the evil and culprits behind it. In the center of this story is the writer Ivan Gajski, whose friend died under sketchy circumstances. Gajski reveals that those who most advocate democracy are not only the same involved in these crimes, but they also did some of the murders as a part of TV production. Gajski meets all kinds of characters through this quest of his, including the woman of his wife Sara, and professor Bošković who discovers the origins of present Evil - the dark past of European continent.

Infection

2003

Infection poster
6.0

In a fictional Central European country democracy and freedom are only illusion, because behind polished surface there's many cases of murders and manipulations with the people. Police and city authorities are helpless when it comes to revealing the evil and culprits behind it. In the center of this story is the writer Ivan Gajski, whose friend died under sketchy circumstances. Gajski reveals that those who most advocate democracy are not only the same involved in these crimes, but they also did some of the murders as a part of TV production. Gajski meets all kinds of characters through this quest of his, including the woman of his wife Sara, and professor Bošković who discovers the origins of present Evil - the dark past of European continent.

Infection

2003

My Uncle's Legacy poster
6.0

In this politically charged drama, the turbulent times just following Marshal Tito's rejection of ties to Moscow comes to life. Interestingly, even in the first few years after the Yugoslavian leader's death, the subject matter of this film was considered too hot to handle, and the director had to appeal to the courts for permission to shoot it. In the story, Martin is a schoolboy with a sense of the absurd and a willingness to use ridicule to amuse himself and his classmates. He has an uncle who is high up in the nation's bureaucracy who protects him and his grandfather now that his father has died. His grandfather is too stubborn to give his farm to the local farming collective, and Martin himself is in hot water with the principal for making fun of his girlfriend, one of the students at the high school. However, as long as the uncle is able to protect them, they remain out of hot water.

My Uncle's Legacy

1988

My Uncle's Legacy poster
6.0

In this politically charged drama, the turbulent times just following Marshal Tito's rejection of ties to Moscow comes to life. Interestingly, even in the first few years after the Yugoslavian leader's death, the subject matter of this film was considered too hot to handle, and the director had to appeal to the courts for permission to shoot it. In the story, Martin is a schoolboy with a sense of the absurd and a willingness to use ridicule to amuse himself and his classmates. He has an uncle who is high up in the nation's bureaucracy who protects him and his grandfather now that his father has died. His grandfather is too stubborn to give his farm to the local farming collective, and Martin himself is in hot water with the principal for making fun of his girlfriend, one of the students at the high school. However, as long as the uncle is able to protect them, they remain out of hot water.

My Uncle's Legacy

1988

Illusion poster
7.0

The story of an inter-generational conflict between two brothers of completely different political and secular views.

Illusion

1967

Illusion poster
7.0

The story of an inter-generational conflict between two brothers of completely different political and secular views.

Illusion

1967

The Rat Savior poster
6.4

A poor writer discovers that a species of rats has banded together to impersonate humans and supplant them unnoticed, in a manner reminiscent of the transformations in Eugene Ionesco's Rhinoceros, or the covert conspiracy of pod-people in The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. This film's story is based on a book by the Soviet writer Alexander Grin.

The Rat Savior

1976

The Rat Savior poster
6.4

A poor writer discovers that a species of rats has banded together to impersonate humans and supplant them unnoticed, in a manner reminiscent of the transformations in Eugene Ionesco's Rhinoceros, or the covert conspiracy of pod-people in The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. This film's story is based on a book by the Soviet writer Alexander Grin.

The Rat Savior

1976

Flower Square poster
6.3

An obscure actor is hired by the police to get a confession out of a dying mafioso.

Flower Square

2013

Handcuffs poster
6.7

Yugoslavia, 1948, the year of Inform Bureau's resolution and Tito's break-up with Stalin. The story takes place during a wedding in the Dalmatian inland in Croatia. Ante marries a much younger woman, Višnja; the groom's godfather is Andrija, the partisan war hero born in this very village, and a member of the new Communist political establishment. Two members of the Yugoslav State Security crash the traditional wedding ceremony. In the growing atmosphere of fear nobody knows who will be arrested.

Handcuffs

1970

Handcuffs poster
6.7

Yugoslavia, 1948, the year of Inform Bureau's resolution and Tito's break-up with Stalin. The story takes place during a wedding in the Dalmatian inland in Croatia. Ante marries a much younger woman, Višnja; the groom's godfather is Andrija, the partisan war hero born in this very village, and a member of the new Communist political establishment. Two members of the Yugoslav State Security crash the traditional wedding ceremony. In the growing atmosphere of fear nobody knows who will be arrested.

Handcuffs

1970

A Performance of Hamlet in the Village of Mrdusa Donja poster
6.8

A corrupt village commissar insists on mounting a production of Hamlet. The clever local teacher, however, casts the son of a man framed for theft as Hamlet, and the commissar as the usurping king, leading to a climax of truly Shakespearean proportions.

A Performance of Hamlet in the Village of Mrdusa Donja

1974

A Performance of Hamlet in the Village of Mrdusa Donja poster
6.8

A corrupt village commissar insists on mounting a production of Hamlet. The clever local teacher, however, casts the son of a man framed for theft as Hamlet, and the commissar as the usurping king, leading to a climax of truly Shakespearean proportions.

A Performance of Hamlet in the Village of Mrdusa Donja

1974

A Croatian Story poster
7.2

Ivan, a young Croatian autonomist whose brother left the country due to political persecution, falls in love with Marina, the duaghter of a staunch communist police chief. Their forbidden whirlwind romance takes place against the backdrop of early 1980s Zagreb's everchanging sociopolitical background following the death of Yugoslavia's president Josip Broz Tito.

A Croatian Story

1991

A Croatian Story poster
7.2

Ivan, a young Croatian autonomist whose brother left the country due to political persecution, falls in love with Marina, the duaghter of a staunch communist police chief. Their forbidden whirlwind romance takes place against the backdrop of early 1980s Zagreb's everchanging sociopolitical background following the death of Yugoslavia's president Josip Broz Tito.

A Croatian Story

1991

The Hub poster
7.3

A documentary set in a modern Croatian railway station, contrasting its promise of progress with the visible presence of unemployment and social stagnation.

The Hub

1969

The Hub poster
7.3

A documentary set in a modern Croatian railway station, contrasting its promise of progress with the visible presence of unemployment and social stagnation.

The Hub

1969

Let Our Voices Be Heard Too poster
6.5

A loving portrait of a pirate radio stations, which is run by the rural population with plenty of passion and talent in the face of opposition from the authorities.

Let Our Voices Be Heard Too

1971

Let Our Voices Be Heard Too poster
6.5

A loving portrait of a pirate radio stations, which is run by the rural population with plenty of passion and talent in the face of opposition from the authorities.

Let Our Voices Be Heard Too

1971

Hallo, Munich poster
5.8

The rut of Dalmatian hinterland changes with the arrival of returning guest workers, and things they bring along: cars, radios and new way of life.

Hallo, Munich

1968