Silvestar Kolbas
(1956) is a film cinematographer, photographer, and director. He graduated in film and TV camera from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb in 1982. He worked as a cameraman at Zagreb Television – Croatian Radiotelevision from 1985 to 1996. Over the course of his career, he has filmed several feature and TV films, series and documentary films, exhibited photographs, and written and edited scientific and professional works on cinematography. He has directed several intimate, auto-reflexive documentaries (All About Eve, The War Reporter, 20 Days in Tibet, Our Children) and experimental films (Self-portrait V2.1, The Red Star Cinema, The Tower, The Film Factory). His auteur documentary and experimental films, and photography exhibitions, are often rooted in autobiography, but also address recent reality and visual media. He wrote the screenplays for all of his auteur films. In 2024, he won the Golden Arena for Best Director and the
Golden Arena for Best Editing at Pula Film Festival for his film Our Children. He lives in Samobor and continues to work as a cinematographer and director.
Tihana Lazović
(Zadar, 1990) graduated in acting from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. She began her professional career in theatre and film as a student. Her debut film, Hush, directed by Lukas Nola, earned her the Breza Award for Best Debutant at Pula Film Festival. She later won the Golden Arena for Best Actress twice at the same festival, for her performances in Dalibor Matanić’s The High Sun and Vanja Juranić’s Only When I Laugh. She is one of the most awarded Croatian actresses. Her films have been screened at major international festivals, including The High Sun at Cannes Film Festival, On the Other Side at the Berlinale, and The Peacock Paradise at Venice Film Festival. In 2016, she received the prestigious Shooting Stars Award as one of Europe’s rising film talents. She also performed in numerous acclaimed television series, such as The Paper, The Last Socialist Artefact, Hush, Tycoon, and Success. Her talent has also been
recognised beyond Croatia, and she worked on several films in Italy. She works as an independent artist.
Jelena Paljan
earned her master’s degree in film and TV editing, and later her master’s degree in dramaturgy from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. After editing two live-action TV films (See You, directed by Ivan Salaj, 1995; New Year’s Eve Robbery, directed by Dražen Žarković, 1997), she devoted herself solely to screenwriting for film and TV. Some of the projects she worked on as screenwriter and co-screenwriter were screened and awarded at notable regional and international festivals: The Reaper, (directed by Zvonimir Jurić, 2014), The Diary of Dana B. (directed by Dana Budisavljević, 2019), Celebration (directed by Bruno Anković, 2024), Cherries (directed by Dubravka Turić, 2017), The Last Socialist Artefact (created by Ankica Jurić Tilić and Dalibor Matanić, 2021). She was awarded as a screenwriter at Croatian Film Days for the short film Cherries, at Sarajevo Film Festival for the drama series The Last Socialist Artefact
(with co-screenwriters Hana Jušić and Milan Živković), and at film festivals in Pula, Herceg Novi and Alexandria for the feature film Celebration. Since 2024, she has been teaching screenwriting of feature films at the Department for Film and TV Directing of the Academy of Dramatic Art. As well as being a screenwriter, she is also a screenwriting consultant and script doctor.
Tomislav Pavlic
(Zagreb, 1973) is a Croatian editor. He graduated in film and TV editing from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb in 1998. He edited more than thirty feature films (including Fine Dead Girls, The High Sun, On the Other Side, Comic Sans, It All Ends Here), with many screened and awarded at festivals in Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, and nominated for the European Film Award. He also edited a number of short, documentary, and animated films, as well as TV series awarded at domestic and international festivals. He received five Golden Arena awards at Pula Film Festival and two awards for best editing at Croatian Film Days. He is one of the founders and vice-president of the association Croatian Film Editors, where he also works on educational programmes such as organising editing masterclasses by renowned European editors at Zagreb Film Festival and film trailer workshops.
Janko Popović Volarić
(Zagreb, 1980) is a Croatian actor, producer, and screenwriter. He graduated from the Academy of Dramatic Art in 2009. He performed in more than fifty plays in theatres across Croatia and in Serbia, and has worked on more than forty films and series in Croatia, Czech Republic, Serbia, and Montenegro. He won a dozen theatre and film awards, including Golden Arena Awards at Pula Film Festival, and the Omar Sharif Prize at the Alexandria Mediterranean Film Festival for the role of Alan Despot in the film Comic sans. He co-wrote three feature films (Vis á Vis, Comic Sans, This Is Not a Love Song), and produced the feature film This Is Not a Love Song in 2024. He lives and works in Zagreb as a freelance artist.
