Fadil Hadžić


Fadil Hadžić was a Bosnian film director, screenwriter, playwright and journalist, mainly known for his comedy films and plays. He was of Bosnian origin, but mainly lived and worked in Croatia, and was well known throughout Yugoslavia.

Biography

Hadžić was born in Bileća in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb and then went on to edit several popular magazines. He was also one of the founders of the prominent theatres Kerempuh and Komedija in Zagreb, and also worked as the intendant at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb.
He had his screenwriting debut in 1952 with the animated film The Haunted Castle at Dudinci, directed by Dušan Vukotić. In 1961 Hadžić had his directorial debut with Alphabet of Fear. He was a prolific and versatile filmmaker throughout the 1960s and his film Official Position won the Big Golden Arena for Best Film at the 1964 Pula Film Festival. In the 1970s and 1980s his output was lower, but in spite of this he won the Golden Arena for Best Director for his 1979 film Journalist.
Hadžić also wrote and directed the 1972 film, Lov na jelene, starring Boris Dvornik and the famous Bosnian singer Silvana Armenulić, a subversive thriller-drama about an emigrant suspected of Ustaša activity, which was timely and popular because of its relation to the Croatian Spring.
In the early 1980s he effectively stopped making films, and turned to playwriting. In this period he wrote more than 57 popular plays and had 14 solo exhibitions of his paintings. In the early 2000s he became active in film again, directing a couple of film adaptations of his comedy plays in 2003 and 2005, followed by the war drama Remember Vukovar in 2008. He died in Zagreb.