Veljko Bulajić passed away

Bulajić is one of the most famous and important directors of Montenegro and the former Yugoslavia

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Bulajić, Photo: Savo Prelevic
Bulajić, Photo: Savo Prelevic
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

Veljko Bulajić, one of the most famous and important directors of Montenegro and the former Yugoslavia, died yesterday at the age of 97 in Zagreb, "Večernji list" reported, stating that members of his family had wronged them.

Bulajić was born on March 22, 1928, in the village of Vilusi in Nikšić.

His film "The Battle of the Neretva" was nominated for an Oscar in 1970.

The films "Kozara", "Train without a timetable", "Assassination in Sarajevo", together with "The Battle of the Neretva", are at the top of the list of the most watched films in the former Yugoslavia.

The former President of Montenegro, Milo Đukanović, awarded Bulajić with the Order of the First Degree two years ago, and he also received the Thirteenth of July Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.

Bulajić was awarded with several Golden Arenas at the Film Festival in Pula for the best films and the best director.

He won the Golden Lion in Venice, the Golden Nymph in Monte Carlo, the directing awards in San Sebastian and New Delhi, the Gold Medal at the International Film Festival in Moscow, the CIDALC international critics' award, and the Golden Spike award for the best film in Valladolid.

At the age of 13, Bulajić joined the partisans in World War II.

He and both of his older brothers, Veljko and Stevan, were wounded in the fighting and at one point the whole family was imprisoned in an Italian fascist concentration camp. Veljko and Stevan Bulajić would later write the scripts for "Kozara" and "Battle on the Neretva".

He finished high school in Sarajevo, and spent most of his life working in Zagreb, shooting some of the most famous partisan films.

His debut feature film, "Train without a timetable" (1959), dealt with a major post-war theme - colonization and was crowned by Pula's Golden Arena.

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