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Goran Paskaljević

Goran Paskaljević

Directing

Biography

Goran Paskaljević was a Serbian and former Yugoslav film director. Born in Belgrade, he was raised by his grandparents in Niš in southern Serbia, following the divorce of his parents. Fourteen years later he returned to Belgrade where he worked with his stepfather at the Yugoslav Film Archive. Paskaljević belonged to a group of several Yugoslav filmmakers who studied abroad and graduated from the prestigious Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU). After returning to Yugoslavia, he made some 30 documentaries and 16 feature films which were screened at many international film festivals (such as Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Toronto and San Sebastian) and met with critical acclaim. The rise of nationalism during the breakup of Yugoslavia forced him to leave his country in 1992. In 1998 he returned to Yugoslavia to make the Powder Keg (known as Cabaret Balkan in the USA) which won the FIPRESCI prize at the Venice Film Festival and at the European Film Awards. In 2001, Variety International Film Guide marked him as one of the world's top five directors of the year. The Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA) presented a full retrospective of his work in January 2008. It was BFI Southbank's (London) turn to organize in July 2010 a full retrospective of his 16 feature films, along with the publication of a monograph (in English) about his work. Paskaljević lived between Belgrade and Paris, France and he held both Serbian and French citizenship. As of 2008 he was named Officer of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He died on 25 September 2020 in Paris.

Known For

The Elusive Summer of '68
7.6

For the young man who lives in Serbian province town, the maturing coincides with the turbulent political events of the year 1968.

The Elusive Summer of '68

1984
How Harry Became a Tree
5.5

Set in rural Ireland. Believing that "a man is measured by his enemies", Harry Maloney sets out to ruin George O'Flaherty – the most powerful man in town, who not only owns the local pub and most of the businesses in the area, but is also the local matchmaker. When Harry's son Gus – upon whom Harry regularly heaps abuse (mostly mental and verbal) – falls for the lovely Eileen, George helps get the two together. During this time, Harry quietly mobilizes his dastardly plans.

How Harry Became a Tree

2002
Kreka: Dreamcatcher
10.0

The career of the famous production designer Miljen Kljaković – Kreka and reveals all the beauty and importance of film scenography.

Kreka: Dreamcatcher

2021
Land of the Gods
5.8

After a long exile, Rahul returns to his village in the Himalayas. It causes commotion amongst the villagers, who have never forgiven him for his sins in the past.

Land of the Gods

2016
Guardian Angel
7.1

A journalist investigates the smuggling of gypsy children on the black market and tries to save a young boy.

Guardian Angel

1987
Cabaret Balkan
7.5

20 peoples paths crisscross one night in violent mid-'90s Belgrade.

Cabaret Balkan

1998
Someone Else's America
6.9

This tale takes place in a bar. The Spanish Alonso and his blind mother run this place. Bay, who is Alonso's friend live here too. This story tells something about Alonso and Bay and the "American Dream".

Someone Else's America

1995
When Day Breaks
6.3

The story of a retired music professor, Misha Brankov, who under unusual circumstances discovers his true origins. At the place where once stood a Nazi concentration camp for Jews during World War II, a metal box filled with documents is found. It was buried by an inmate Isaac Weiss in the year 1941. The professor finds out that his real parents, the Weiss's, gave him away to their friends, the Brankovs, just before they were taken into the camp. Inside the box there is an unfinished musical score, called "When day breaks", composed by the inmate Isaac Weiss. Searching for the truth about himself and his origins, Misha discovers the little-known truth about Judenlager Semlin camp, one of the worst Nazi execution sites in the heart of contemporary Belgrade. At the same time, the professor's obsession is to complete the composition, started by his father, and to perform it on the site of the former camp... which he, after many vicissitudes, finally succeeds.

When Day Breaks

2012
Time of Miracles
6.2

September 1945. The new communist authorities go into the church, hang the flag of the Party and paint over the old frescoes, but each time the frescoes miraculously return. A stranger comes to town and works miracles; the townsfolk are convinced he is the Messiah. Director Paskaljevic cut his TV miniseries, based on the novel by Borislav Pekic, to feature film length.

Time of Miracles

1989
Cat's Cry
N/A

When his daughter disappears, Stamen, a retired factory worker from a small industrial town in Serbia must fight a flawed social system to gain custody of his granddaughter, who suffers from a rare condition called “Cat’s Cry Syndrome”.

Cat's Cry

2024
The Servant
7.2

Film is based on a folk tale and tells about how you cannot run away from your destiny. Events take place in unknown place a few centuries ago. Rich landlord cannot have children despite the fact he has a young wife. He hires an unknown drifter who is roaming trough their area with intentions to give him an heir.

The Servant

1973
The Beach Guard in Winter
5.5

Grown up in an atmosphere of failed marriage of his parents, a young man wants to go his way throughout life. School he finished doesn't give him the opportunity to find a job, so he accepts the position of a beach guard in winter period.

The Beach Guard in Winter

1976
Twilight Time
5.6

After spending 20 years in America, aging widower Marko Sekulovic (Karl Malden) returns to his Yugoslavian homeland to take care of his two young grandchildren. But Marko's quiet life is in for a shake up when he meets the pretty new village schoolteacher, Lana (Jodi Thelen). Malden pays tribute to his Yugoslav heritage in this affecting 1982 drama.

Twilight Time

1982
The Optimists
6.7

Five scenarios in which people have trouble distinguishing truth from illusions. Each segment reflects the motto of Voltaire's Candide: "Optimism is insisting everything is good, when everything is bad."

The Optimists

2006
The Dog Who Loved Trains
6.9

A fugitive girl, a stuntman and a young man who lost his dog quite some time before, are joining together on a trip to reach each of their own destination. A youngster gets emotionally connected to the girl, and he'd try to help her to leave the bossy stuntman, to get false passport and escape to Paris.

The Dog Who Loved Trains

1977
Tango Argentino
5.0

A boy who is helping lonely, elderly people revives their urge to live and receives in return their love and understanding, which have been denied to him by his parents.

Tango Argentino

1992
Honeymoons
6.6

'Honeymoons' shows us that the distance between Eastern and Western Europe is more than a question of kilometers. The films follows two couples, one is Albania, one in Serbia, who in the midst of wedding celebrations decide to leave their respective countries to realize their dreams in Western Europe. They soon find themselves trapped between their countries' past and their future lives together.

Honeymoons

2009
Special Treatment
5.3

Dr. Ilic works in the hospital for compulsory treatment of alcoholics. By conducting his own "special treatment" through physical exercises, apple eating, the healing effects of listening to Wagner's music and psychodrama, a group of six patients have been taken to visit the brewery where there is a problem of alcoholism in the workplace.

Special Treatment

1980
Us from Prague
9.0

Students from the Prague Academy of Film (FAMU) talk about their life in Prague. Filmed in Prague in 1968, a few months before the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia.

Us from Prague

1971
Despite the Fog
6.3

According to Interpol, over ten thousand refugees of minors without parental care are wandering today in Europe, half of which are on Italian roads. "Despite the Fog" is a movie story about one of them. In short: Ali-Musa Sarhan, a refugee whose parents drowned while traveling by rubber boat on the Italian coast in search of a better life, is accepted by family, husband and wife who have lost a child. They are trying to find solace in little Arab and a sort of replacement for their early deceased son, Mark. Valeria (Donatella Finokjaro) and Paolo (Giorgio Tirabasi) are increasingly confronted with resistance from the environment and their own family, who do not accept their decision to keep Muhammad - It is also a story of a world that is increasingly sinking into xenophobic fog.

Despite the Fog

2019