Damir Demonja. All images © AWN, Inc.

Centered in the heart of the Croatian capital, the once mighty and influential Zagreb Film has fallen into the doldrums. The once creative hotspot and winner of an Oscar for 1961's Substitute (Surogat, Dusan Vukotic), Zagreb Film was a victim of not only the Balkan crisis but also over the past twenty or so years a general petering out or loss of energy. Well, enter Damir Demonja, Zagreb Film's new 35 year-old general manager, who took his post in December of 2001 and is bringing sweeping changes to the sleepy organization. Not afraid of work, Demonja has a list of projects both economic and cultural for the studio. While in Zagreb for the International Film Festival, I toured the studio and sat down with Damir to discuss his plans for the future and his already significant actions. It was a hectic week for the Zagreb Film team who are, of course, very involved in the festival, all the while holding tours and meetings with the visiting professionals.

Officially founded in 1956, Zagreb Film pulled together a team of artists that would go on to make the small studio an international award-winning powerhouse and be known as the Zagreb School of design and style. Beginning in the early Fifties these artists made films however they could, developing a limited animation technique that saved time and money in order to complete their films. They however combined this technique with a very stylized design sense, much in the fashion of the U.S.' UPA studio, to create striking shorts that captured the animation world's attention. However this great spark slowly grew less bright until Zagreb Film completely collapsed after finishing the production of Little Flying Bears with Canada's Cinegroupe.

The gates leading to Zagreb Film's newer building.	The school on Zagreb Film's property which teaches a new generation animation.

Zagreb Film is currently owned by the city of Zagreb, where it is one of thirty such companies that even includes the local public transportation! While the company is supported by the city and Ministry of Culture currently, within the next four years the studio must be privatized. It is now Demonja's difficult job to steer the studio toward co-productions, commercial and other service work, and the full exploitation of Zagreb's significant film library, in order to carve a niche in the crowded animation marketplace. While commercials will play a key role in earning the studio money, short art films will remain on Zagreb's production slate. As Demonja explains, "You have to diversify. It is necessary if you want to stay in business, but we have a history," he says pointing to the Oscar in the glass case behind his desk, "that we cannot forget."