Cinema
Lisinski
Oktavijan Miletić · 1944
Synopsis
Zagreb, in the time of the national awakening. The young composer Vatroslav Lisinski seeks to make his mark despite a hostile circle and fragile health, supported by patriotic friends and patrons, the singer and countess Sidonija Rubido and the patron Ognjen Štriga. He falls in love with the beautiful Hedviga, but believes himself unworthy of her, and Štriga urges him to write a rallying song, then the first opera in the Croatian language.
Context
The film grew out of a cultural film of about twenty minutes, written by Milan Katić and expanded into a feature. Shot in 1943 in the Zagorje and in Zagreb, with more than two hundred extras for the demonstration on St Mark's Square, it was edited and given its soundtrack in Vienna, for lack of a studio. As the regime disliked the Illyrian movement, the authors avoided referring to it directly, as they did to the composer's real name, Ignac Fuchs. Presented at Easter, on 9 April 1944, it stayed three months in cinemas and then moved on to Vienna, Dresden, Bratislava and Berlin. Boris Papandopulo wrote its music. The Croatian Cinematheque and State Archives have restored it.
Who it is for
An hour and a half in Croatian, viewable since 2009 in a restored print. It is better to know what the Illyrian movement was, and under what regime the film was shot.
Prizes and reception
The oldest surviving Croatian feature-length fiction film and the first with sound; named the best Croatian release of the year by Jutarnji list after its restoration.
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