This will be Mr Menzel’s third documentary about Croatia.
Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić met with Croatian-Czech Society members led by Marijan Lipovac, the Society’s president, yesterday, on October 19, to discuss the possibility of making a documentary film about Zagreb, called Moj Zagreb (My Zagreb), directed by famous Czech film and theatre director and an Oscar winner, Jiří Menzel.
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As Mr Lipovac explained, Jiří Menzel would be the narrator, speaking about Zagreb’s landmarks and his personal memories about Zagreb.
“We think that the story about Zagreb should be told from the perspective of one of the most famous Czech and international directors would be a priceless promotion of Zagreb, not only in the Czech Republic, but also around the world. Mr Menzel says that Croatia is his second homeland – the only two documentaries that he made in his lifetime were about the Adriatic and Dubrovnik. This would be his third documentary. He spent two years living in Zagreb and directed eight theatre shows here,” Mr Lipovac said, adding that Zagreb Mayor was very happy to accept being the sponsor of this project.
You can watch the documentary about the Croatian coast below:
Ms Martina Bienenfeld, director of Zagreb Tourist Board, stated that the citizens of Zagreb were honoured to have a famous director making a film about the Croatian capital.
“Our coast is the most popular destination for Czech tourists, so only a small number of them visit Zagreb. We hope that, encouraged by Mr Menzel’s documentary film, his compatriots will see just how gorgeous Zagreb really is in springtime and visit it more and more. I believe that they will love it just as Mr Menzel did.”
Jiří Menzel rose to fame in 1967 when his first feature film, Closely Watched Trains, won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He was a member of the Czech New Wave movement and combines sarcasm and provocative elements in his films. The other films that he made that have won awards include Larks on a String, and My Sweet Little Village, which was also nominated for an Academy Award.
He was a member of the jury at many international film festival and in 2013, he was awarded an IIFA Lifetime Achievement Award.
Watch an excerpt from Closely Watched Trains below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xWOC3banLs
