Photo courtesy of Cinema Design
It’s with tremendous sadness that we learned of the passing of acclaimed The Scent of Rain in the Balkans director Ljubiša Samardžić after a long illness. He was 81 years old. He will be remembered as one of the most famous actors in Former Yugoslavia and Serbia. Below is a tribute from Cinema Design. You can read the full tribute and photo gallery at this link here.
From Cinema Design:
Ljubisa Samardzic has a rich acting, directing and producing career behind him. He was born in Skopje in 1936. He is one of the most popular actors of post WWII Yugoslavia, while his name appeared in the credits of more than 200 films.
He won a Golden Lion/Copa Volpi in Venice in 1967, six Golden Arenas in Pula (former Yugoslavia), as well as numerous Grand Prix awards for producing and directing.
The films he appeared in were shown at the festivals all over the world, from Cannes to Karlovy Vary, from Berlin to Venice.
He often appears in the projects he produces, but he didn’t appear in his directing debut “Sky Hook”. The film competed at the 50th Berlin Film Festival. Film was a response to NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999 and an effort to create a new filming trend.
The second film “Natasha” won a Golden Arena in Pula for a lead female role and an award for the best film at the Albena festival, as well as an artist award at the MEDFilm 2002 in Rome.
The last TV series The Scent of Rain in the Balkans, 14 episodes from 2011/12, was pronounced by Emmy Awards 2012 as one of the top 10 series in the world.
