Lukas Nola, 59, passed away today in Zagreb, after a long battle with cancer, Croatian media reports.
His debut was in 1993, when he made a made-for-TV movie “When Nobody is Watching”. His subsequent movies, “Every Time We Part” (1994) and “Russian Meat” (1995) were hits, winning awards at the Pula Festival and getting turned into popular TV series. He combined the genres of thriller, melodrama and detective story, was preoccupied with his original characters and was heavily influenced by David Lynch.
Then he turned towards art-movies, using a more modernist approach in his movies “Celestial Body” and “Alone” from the early 2000s, which also managed to win awards at the Pula festival. Those latter movies are influenced by Tarkovsky, and prove his exquisite visual style. His TV titles include “Operation Kajman” and “Guardian of the Castle” (which was a hit on the international scene and was even shown in the USA). He was also a play-writer, did some theatre directing and made numerous experimental films. He wrote the screenplays for all of his movies himself.
His wife is the renowned Croatian actress Barbara Nola, and their two children have also found themselves in various art undertakings.
Numerous Croatian actors, directors and other celebrities mourning the loss took to social media to say their last goodbyes to their friend and colleague today, including Goran Grgić, Dalibor Matanić, and many others.
