Branko Lustig (born June 10, 1932) is a prominent film producer. He is the only Yugoslav person to have won two Academy Awards.
Lustig was born in Osijek, Kingdom of Yugoslavia (today in Croatia), to a Croatian-Jewish family. During World War II, as a child he was imprisoned for two years in Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. Most of his family members perished in the death camps throughout Europe.
Lustig began his film career in 1955 as an assistant director at Jadran Film, a Zagreb-based film production company. In 1956 he worked as a unit production manager on Ne okreći se sine (Don't Look Back, My Son), a notable World War II drama. 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 WW2). 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).
Lustig received the Order of Duke Trpimir by President Franjo Tudjman for his work on the film. In 2008 he became the first filmmaker ever to be awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Zagreb.
In 2008, Lustig helped establish an independant production company Six Point Films to produce "meaningful, though-provoking independant films".
References
^ a b c d e "Hollywoodska večer za Branka Lustiga" (in Croatian). Vjesnik (April 20, 2007). Retrieved on 2008-07-10.
^ a b Penić, Goran (July 10, 2008). "Oskarovac predavač na Akademiji" (in Croatian). Jutarnji list. Retrieved on 2008-07-10.
^ "U Hollywoodu održana večer posvećena Branku Lustigu" (in Croatian). Jutarnji list (April 19, 2007). Retrieved on 2008-07-10.
External links
Branko Lustig at the Internet Movie Database
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branko_Lustig"
Categories: 1932 births | Living people | Croatian film producers | Nazi concentration camp survivors | Croatian Jews | Producers who won the Best Picture Academy Award | Film producer stubs | Croatian people stubs
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