Branko Lustig
Encyclopedia
Branko Lustig is a prominent Croatia
n Jewish film producer
. He is the only person born in Croatia
(at the time Kingdom of Yugoslavia
) to have won two Academy Awards
.
, Croatia
, (at that time Kingdom of Yugoslavia
), to a Croatian Jewish
family. His father, Mirko, was head-waiter at a Osijek Café Central, and his mother, Vilma, was a housewife. Lustig grandparents, unlike his parents, were religious and he regularly attended town Synagogue
with them. During World War II
, as a child he was imprisoned for two years in Auschwitz
and Bergen-Belsen
. Most members of his family perished in the death camps throughout Europe, including his grandmother who was killed in the gas chamber
, while his father was killed in Čakovec
by Hungarians on March 15, 1945. Lustig mother survived the Holocaust
and was reunited with him after the war. On the day of the liberation Lustig weighted only 66 pounds. Lustig credited his survival in Auschwitz to a German officer that, coincidentally, was from the same Osijek suburb and knew Lustig's father. He overheard Lustig crying in Croatian and asked him who his father was.
, a state-owned Zagreb
-based film production company. In 1956 he worked as a unit production manager on Branko Bauer
's World War II drama Ne okreći se sine
, winner of three Golden Arena awards at the 1956 Pula Film Festival
. In the 1980s Lustig worked on the miniseries
The Winds of War
(1983) and its sequel War and Remembrance (1988). He moved to the United States in 1988.
Lustig received his first Oscar in 1993 for the production of Schindler's List
, a film based on the novel of Thomas Keneally
(which is, in turn, based on the true-life story of a German manufacturer who saved hundreds of Jews during World War II). He received his second Oscar for the epic movie Gladiator
about a struggle for power in Imperial Rome
, in 2001. Other major Hollywood films that Lustig has worked on as a producer or executive producer
include The Peacemaker
(1997), Hannibal
(2001), and Black Hawk Down (2001). In 2008, Lustig helped establish an independent production company Six Point Films
to produce "meaningful, thought-provoking independent films".
by President Franjo Tuđman for his work on the film. In 2008 he became the first filmmaker ever and second in the field of arts (only one along with Vladimir Nazor
) to be awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Zagreb
.
The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust
honored Branko Lustig at his 2nd Annual Dinner on November 8, 2009 at the Beverly Hills Hotel
for his long-time commitment to Holocaust education and commemoration.
Lustig is honorary president and one of the founding members of the Jewish Movie Festival in Zagreb. On September 16, 2010 Lustig was awarded with honorary citizenship of Osijek.
Lustig celebrated his bar mitzvah on May 2, 2011 at Auschwitz, in front of barrack No. 24 a. He missed his rite of passage as a 13-year-old because at the time he was a prisoner in the very same barrack, having been deported from his Croatian hometown Osijek to the death camp when he was 10. In spite of that he himself consider as atheist, Lustig always stayed deeply connected
with jewish tradition and culture.
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n Jewish film producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
. He is the only person born in Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
(at the time Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
) to have won two Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
.
Early life
Lustig was born in OsijekOsijek
Osijek is the fourth largest city in Croatia with a population of 83,496 in 2011. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja county...
, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, (at that time Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
), to a Croatian Jewish
History of the Jews in Croatia
The Jewish community of Croatia dates back to at least the 3rd century AD, although little is known of the community until the 10th and 15th centuries. The community, over 20,000 strong on the eve of World War II, was almost entirely destroyed in the Holocaust. After the WWII half of the survivors...
family. His father, Mirko, was head-waiter at a Osijek Café Central, and his mother, Vilma, was a housewife. Lustig grandparents, unlike his parents, were religious and he regularly attended town Synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
with them. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, as a child he was imprisoned for two years in Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp
Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...
and Bergen-Belsen
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Bergen-Belsen was a Nazi concentration camp in Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle...
. Most members of his family perished in the death camps throughout Europe, including his grandmother who was killed in the gas chamber
Gas chamber
A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. The most commonly used poisonous agent is hydrogen cyanide; carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide have also been used...
, while his father was killed in Čakovec
Cakovec
Čakovec is a city in northern Croatia, located around 90 kilometres north of Zagreb, the Croatian capital. Čakovec is both the county seat and largest city of Međimurje County, the northernmost, smallest and most densely populated Croatian county.-Population:...
by Hungarians on March 15, 1945. Lustig mother survived the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
and was reunited with him after the war. On the day of the liberation Lustig weighted only 66 pounds. Lustig credited his survival in Auschwitz to a German officer that, coincidentally, was from the same Osijek suburb and knew Lustig's father. He overheard Lustig crying in Croatian and asked him who his father was.
Movie career
Lustig began his film career in 1955 as an assistant director at Jadran FilmJadran Film
Jadran Film is a film production studio and distribution company founded in 1946 in Zagreb, Croatia. In the period between the early 1960s and late 1980s Jadran Film was one of the biggest and most notable film studios in Central Europe, with some 145 international and around 120 Yugoslav...
, a state-owned Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
-based film production company. In 1956 he worked as a unit production manager on Branko Bauer
Branko Bauer
-Early life:Bauer became interested in cinema as a school boy, influenced by a Jewish girl, a piano player, who was hiding from Ustaše in his parents' home. After World War II, he began working in the Zagreb-based Jadran Film studio as a documentary filmmaker...
's World War II drama Ne okreći se sine
Don't Look Back, My Son
Don't Look Back, My Son , also known as My Son Don't Turn Round in the United States, is a 1956 Croatian film directed by Branko Bauer.-External links:* at Filmski-Programi.hr...
, winner of three Golden Arena awards at the 1956 Pula Film Festival
Pula Film Festival
The Pula Film Festival is the oldest Croatian film festival which is held annually in a Roman amphitheater known as the Pula arena since 1954. The festival is usually held in the summer, in July or August....
. In the 1980s Lustig worked on the miniseries
Miniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
The Winds of War
Winds of War (mini-series)
The Winds of War is a 1983 miniseries that follows the book of the same name closely and depicts events from March 1939 until the entry of the United States into World War II in December 1941. Just as in the book, in addition to the lives of the Henry and Jastrow families, much time in the...
(1983) and its sequel War and Remembrance (1988). He moved to the United States in 1988.
Lustig received his first Oscar in 1993 for the production of Schindler's List
Schindler's List
Schindler's List is a 1993 American film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg, and based on the novel Schindler's Ark...
, a film based on the novel of Thomas Keneally
Thomas Keneally
Thomas Michael Keneally, AO is an Australian novelist, playwright and author of non-fiction. He is best known for writing Schindler's Ark, the Booker Prize-winning novel of 1982 which was inspired by the efforts of Poldek Pfefferberg, a Holocaust survivor...
(which is, in turn, based on the true-life story of a German manufacturer who saved hundreds of Jews during World War II). He received his second Oscar for the epic movie Gladiator
Gladiator (2000 film)
Gladiator is a 2000 historical epic film directed by Ridley Scott, starring Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Ralf Möller, Oliver Reed, Djimon Hounsou, Derek Jacobi, John Shrapnel and Richard Harris. Crowe portrays the loyal Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius, who is betrayed...
about a struggle for power in Imperial Rome
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, in 2001. Other major Hollywood films that Lustig has worked on as a producer or executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
include The Peacemaker
The Peacemaker (1997 film)
The Peacemaker is a 1997 American action/thriller film starring George Clooney and Nicole Kidman and directed by Mimi Leder. It is also notable as being the first film released by DreamWorks...
(1997), Hannibal
Hannibal (film)
Hannibal is a 2001 psychological thriller film directed by Ridley Scott, adapted from the Thomas Harris novel of the same name. It is a sequel to the 1991 Academy Award-winning film The Silence of the Lambs that returns Anthony Hopkins to his iconic role as serial killer Hannibal Lecter...
(2001), and Black Hawk Down (2001). In 2008, Lustig helped establish an independent production company Six Point Films
Six point films
Six Point Films is a film production company based in Los Angeles, California. The company was established by Academy Award-winning producer Branko Lustig and entrepreneur Phil Blazer to produce "meaningful, thought-provoking films"...
to produce "meaningful, thought-provoking independent films".
Personal life
Lustig received the Order of Duke TrpimirOrder of Duke Trpimir
The Order of Duke Trpimir , or more fully the Order of Duke Trpimir with Neck Badge and Morning Star , is an order of the Republic of Croatia. It ranks fifth in the Croatian order of precedence after the Grand Order of King Dmitar Zvonimir...
by President Franjo Tuđman for his work on the film. In 2008 he became the first filmmaker ever and second in the field of arts (only one along with Vladimir Nazor
Vladimir Nazor
Vladimir Nazor was the first head of state of modern Croatia. A member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia , he led the Croatian World War II wartime assembly, the ZAVNOH, and later served as the President of the Presidium of the People's Assembly of PR Croatia - the head of state of the People's...
) to be awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Zagreb
University of Zagreb
The University of Zagreb is the biggest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of Southeastern Europe...
.
The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust
Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust
The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust is a renowned holocaust museum in Los Angeles, California.-History:The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust is the oldest holocaust museum in the United States of America. In 1961 at Hollywood High School, a group of holocaust survivors taking English as a...
honored Branko Lustig at his 2nd Annual Dinner on November 8, 2009 at the Beverly Hills Hotel
Beverly Hills Hotel
The Beverly Hills Hotel is a hotel on Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California. It was opened on May 12, 1912 by Margaret J. Anderson and her son, Stanley S. Anderson, who had been managing the Hollywood Hotel. The original main building of The Beverly Hills Hotel was designed by Pasadena...
for his long-time commitment to Holocaust education and commemoration.
Lustig is honorary president and one of the founding members of the Jewish Movie Festival in Zagreb. On September 16, 2010 Lustig was awarded with honorary citizenship of Osijek.
Lustig celebrated his bar mitzvah on May 2, 2011 at Auschwitz, in front of barrack No. 24 a. He missed his rite of passage as a 13-year-old because at the time he was a prisoner in the very same barrack, having been deported from his Croatian hometown Osijek to the death camp when he was 10. In spite of that he himself consider as atheist, Lustig always stayed deeply connected
with jewish tradition and culture.