Zivorad 'Zika' Mitrovic

'Zivorad 'Zika' Mitrovic' (qv) was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in 1921. He belongs to the first generation of post-WW2 directors, and began directing in 1946. His first film was a documentary about the National Army rally named _Nove pobede (1946)_ (qv). After this feature, he made a series of shorts (_The First Lights (1949)_ (qv), _The Soil Was Waiting for a Tractor (1951)_ (qv), _Images of Prizren (1952)_ (qv) and _Pozari u gradu (1953)_ (qv)). Mitrovic was one of the most productive directors in the history of Yugoslav cinema, and by 1986 he had made 20 feature films, including _Esalon doktora M (1953)_ and _Der Haufen der Verlorenen (1960)_ (qv). This latter film lead to great success and popularity for both Mitrovic and the star Aleksandar Gavric, and spawned a sequel, _Abrechnung am Silberfluss (1962)_ (qv). Mitrovic made several historic films but also tackled contemporary subjects within the crime genre. His famous urban crime films are _Bahnraub in Belgrad (1956)_ (qv), _Noz (1967)_ (qv) and _Murder Commited in a Sly and Cruel Manner and from Low Motives (1969)_ (qv). He also made two spectacular war epics _Mars na Drinu (1964)_ (qv) and _Uzicka republika (1974)_. The first film is considered noteworthy because it portrays the heroics of the Serbian Royal Army in WW1; communist authorities used to forbid even faint mentions of the subject, so even the production of this film remains a secret to this day. One of the rare non-action films in his opus is _Savamala (1982)_ (qv), an acclaimed period piece about life in Belgrade in 1936. Mitrovic's work won many national and international awards.::Joseph C. Hallenbeck