FILM BIOGRAPHY

Engaged in film as a director, scriptwriter, animator and costume designer during her long career, Mira Brtka has an outstandingly rich filmography.

Brtka graduated from the Academy of Theater and Film Art in Belgrade in 1953, in the Department of Film Directing, in the class of professors Slavko Vorkapić and Vjekoslav Afrić. She entered the world of theater and film art, having directed Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams in the National Theater in Subotica.

During her study trip to Prague, Brtka assisted film director Otokar Vavra in making Against All (Proti všem), a film trilogy about Hussite Wars. Following her return to Belgrade, she started a long and fruitful cooperation with cameraman and director Nikola Majdak who was three years her senior. Their first project, The World of Postage Stamps (Svet maraka), a documentary, was screened in Paris as a part of the United Nations Day. Given that postage stamps from Ethiopia were also represented in the documentary, the film was given as a gift to the Ethiopian emperor Haile Sellasie, during a state visit. The World of Postage Stamps, having won the Ferrani Award, in the documentary category in 1959, opened the doors for Brtka in the film industry in Rome and in Italy, a country which at that time had a very noted and important role in European cinematography.

The film scene of Rome, the eternal city in which Brtka settled, prompted her to discover her creative potential on a daily basis, becoming, at the same time, the space of glamurous atmosphere in which she met her associates and made friends: Pietro Germi, Roger Vadim, Richard Thorpe, Paolo Pietrangeli, Ferdinando Baldi, Carlo Rambaldi, Alberto Lattuada, Warren Kiefer, and many others.

FILMOGRAPHY OF MIRA BRTKA

Against All (Proti všem, 1956), directed by Otakar Vavra; produced by Barrandov Film, Prague, Czechoslovakia;

The Tempest (La tempesta 1958), directed by Alberto Lattuada, based upon Pushkin’s short story, Captain’s Daugther; starring Silvana Mangano; produced by Dino De Laurentiis, Gray S. N. (Paris).

The Tempest 2 (La tempesta 2 1959), directed by Michelangelo Antonioni (uncredited); produced by Dino De Laurentiis, Gray S. N. (Paris); decor Mario Chiari, Miodrag Nikolic; direction artistique Vlado Brankovic;

The World of Postage Stamps (Svet maraka, 1959); documentary, directed by Mira Brtka; cameraman Nikola Majdak; produced by Zagreb Film, Yugoslavia;

A Window to the World (Prozor u svet, 1959);

The Facts of Murder (Il maledetto imbroglio 1959) directed by Pietro Germi, starring Claudia Cardinale, produzione Riama-Film, Roma;

The Tartars (I tartari, 1961), directed by Richard Thorpe, Ferdinando Baldi; starring Victor Mature, Orson Welles; produced by Riccardo Gualino/Lux Film.

The Steppe (La steppa 1963), directed by Alberto Lattuada; produced by Moris Ergas, Dino De Laurentiis; based upon Chekhov’s novel, filmed in Yugoslavia;

Soloist (Solista, 1963); animated film by Nikola Majdak in collaboration with Mira Brtka, the first film of the Belgrade Film School;

The Thieving Magpie (La gazza ladra, 1965); animated short film by Giulio Gianini and Emanuele Luzzati); nominated by for the Best Film Academy Short Film in 1966;

Creation of special pieces in collaboration with Carlo Rambaldi for The Bible: In the Beginning… (La Bibbia, 1966) directed by John Huston;

The Next of Kin (1968), directed by Warren Kiefer; produced by Afilm; Italian script by Alfredo Tassani; animated subtitles by Mira Brtka and M. Čubraković;

Creation of special pieces in collaboration with Carlo Rambaldi for Barbarella (1969) by Roger Vadim;

Partizans’ Bases (Partizanske baze, 1969), directed by Mira Brtka; cameraman Petar Latinovic; produced by Neoplanta Film, Novi Sad, Yugoslavia; renowned French filmmaker Chris Marker deems this film the best film of the Belgrade Documentary Film Festival;

Animated Intermezzo for RAI (1969, 1970); in collaboration with V. Vighi and Milena Čubraković; produced by Etnea Film;

Slovaks (Slovaci, 1970); a 30-min documentary for TV Belgrade on the migrations of the Slovak minority from Centarl Europe since 1770; directed by Mira Brtka, camerman Bata Grbic;

Battle of Sutjeska (Sutjeska, 1973), directed by Stipe Delic; starring Richard Burton as Tito;

The Venice Biennale (Venecijansko bijenale, 1995); documentary for TV Novi Sad directed by Mira Brtka; cameraman V. Vesovic;

Miscellaneous Films (No Dates)

Commercial for the Osijek-based Favorit Company; in collaboration with M. Čubraković and S. Zavrel (TV Belgrade);

Trampy; animated feature film by Harry Hess; scenography Mira Brtka, in collaboration with M. Čubraković, and S. Passacandando;

Wellhead to Tanker and Electrical Systems, and Hydraulic Systems, three educational flims for Transafrica Film, Rome; in collaboration with M. Čubraković;

Four educational films Egypt and Persia done for Italoconsult-Roma, directed by M. Gandin; Mira Brtka in collaboration with B. Saint Jean, M. Čubraković and S. Zavrel;

A commercial for Seifert-Film, Munchen; Mira Brtka with M. Čubraković and S. Zavral;

Kim’s Game (Il giuoco di Kim); animated children’s film for Freemanti Italiana di Torossi Saltarello liberiano; in collaboration with M. Čubraković.

1+1=10, animated part of a documentary film for IBM Roma; with M. Čubraković;

Atomic radiation (Radiazione atomica), animated part of the documentary for Centro Nucleare di Frascati; in collaboration with M. Čubraković;

Animated part of the documentary on the birth of twins for Istituto genealogico, Roma; in collaboration with M. Čubraković;

Autovox, animated part for a documentary produced by Etnea-film; with M. Čubraković;

Other

Mira Brtka worked in the following studios:

Studio di Gianini e Luzzati, Roma; Etnea-Film, Roma; Studio di Carlo Ventimiglia, Roma; Studio di Harry Hess, Roma; Studio di Cinetrucchi 2000 di Carlo Rambaldi, Roma; Studio di Sergia Fiella, Roma; Studio Calabria, Roma; La Microstampa, Roma-Labarro; TV Novi Sad, Yugoslavia.

Films about Mira Brtka

1982

Nikola Majdak, for TV Novi Sad, directed te film A Face in Passing ( Lice u prolazu) on the work of Mira Brtka

1993.

M. Horvath and Vladimir Valentik for TV Novi Sad and series Art Forumm, a conversation with painter, sculptor and director Miro Brtko.

Martin Prebudila for TV Novi Sad and series Art Forum, half an hour long film about the art practices of Mira Brtka – Mira Brtkova in Person.

2011.

One-hour interview with Mira Brtka for TV Stara Pazova and the program Time and people, author and host: Vesna Miletić.

Carmelo Romeo and Luciano Trina, video on Mira Brtka’s participation in L’inadeguato, Lo inadecuado, The Inadequate, Dora Garcia’s project in the Spanish Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale, Venice September 17, 2011 http: //www.arteideologia .it / 03-Edicola / 54Biennale. html

2012.

Carmelo Romeo, by Dreams That Money Can Buy, Hans Richter: Mira Brtka, Rome, 2012.