Branko Schmidt

(Osijek, 1957) studied Economics, before graduating from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb, with a degree in Film and tv Directing. His graduation film was a television play called Rano sazrijevanje Marka Kovača (1981).

The next year he made Hildegard, a drama for television that was voted best Yugoslav television drama. In 1988 he directed his first feature film, Sokol Did Not Like Him adapted from the play by Fabijan Šovagović, and won the Debutant of the Year award at Pula Film Festival. Throughout his career, Schmidt has directed plays, documentary films and children’s television series.

One of his most recent feature films, The Melon Route, won three Golden Arenas: for best actor, best art direction and best sound design. In Pula it also won Oktavijan, Croatian Film Critics Award, and in addition, it won the Grand Prix at the Dubrovnik Film Festival, Grand Prix Golden Antigone for best score at the Montpellier imff and was shown successfully at film festivals around the world. (www.havc.hr)