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My life in pictures

Slobodan Ivetić Film director and photographer

I spent my childhood and my youth in Tunisia, where my father worked as an agricultural engineer. I went through the French school system there, from primary school to the lycée.

Of all the countries I have travelled through, Tunisia stayed with me as the one with the most beautiful sunlight and a different kind of blue in its sky. On every later visit I felt that extraordinary light again. That is why, from my very first photographs, I have worked only with natural sunlight, above all in portraits — it gives life, and it brings honesty and intimacy.

That natural sunlight, which some painters call God's light, is what connects us to the cosmos.

Slobodan Ivetić as a young man — My younger years, under the same Mediterranean light that has marked my photography ever since.

^01. Paris — the student years

I graduated in film directing and photography in Paris, at IDHEC, today La Fémis, and studied film theory at the Sorbonne. My graduation film, “Stop the World, I Want to Get Off”, starred Daniel Olbrychski, one of the great European stars of the day. The film represented my academy at the Festival of European Film Schools in Mannheim, Germany.

Slobodan Ivetić on the set of his graduation film in Paris — On the set of my graduation film, “Stop the World, I Want to Get Off”.

Daniel Olbrychski and Christian Jean in a scene from Slobodan Ivetić's graduation film — Daniel Olbrychski and Christian Jean in a scene from my graduation film.

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in a frame from Slobodan Ivetić's student exercise — During a camera exercise at school, the President of France at the time, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, walked straight into my shot.

Slobodan Ivetić with his classmates in Paris — With my classmates, after an exercise that finally went the way we wanted…

^02. On the big film sets

As an assistant director I worked on a great many large foreign and domestic productions — on films by Lordan Zafranović, Andrzej Żuławski, Enki Bilal and Jean-Marie Poiré, and on every single film Dušan Kovačević made.

Slobodan Ivetić with Lordan Zafranović and the crew of The Fall of Italy on the island of Šolta — With Lordan Zafranović and the crew of “The Fall of Italy” on the island of Šolta.

Shooting Balkan Spy — Dušan Kovačević, Bata Stojković, Boža Nikolić and Slobodan Ivetić — On the set of the cult film “Balkan Spy”: Dušan Kovačević, Bata Stojković, Boža Nikolić and me, first from the left.

As it happened, I also ended up in front of the camera on the films I worked on — in every one of Dušan Kovačević's films I “pass through” a scene somewhere.

Slobodan Ivetić and Bata Stojković in a scene from Balkan Spy — With Bata Stojković in “Balkan Spy”.

Philippe Noiret and Slobodan Ivetić on the set of Twist Again in Moscow — The actor Philippe Noiret and me, as assistant director, on the set of the French film “Twist Again in Moscow”, directed by Jean-Marie Poiré.

Enki Bilal and Slobodan Ivetić in Belgrade during the shooting of Bunker Palace Hôtel — The director Enki Bilal and me in Belgrade during the shooting of the French film “Bunker Palace Hôtel”, where I was his assistant director.

The wrap party for Bunker Palace Hôtel with Enki Bilal, Carole Bouquet and Jean-Louis Trintignant — The wrap party for “Bunker Palace Hôtel” in a Belgrade restaurant, with Bilal and the actors Carole Bouquet and Jean-Louis Trintignant.

Slobodan Ivetić with Sophia Loren on the set of the television series Mama Lucia — With Sophia Loren on the set of the American television series “Mama Lucia”, based on the novel by Mario Puzo.

Slobodan Ivetić as assistant director to Andrzej Żuławski on the film opera Boris Godunov in Dubrovnik — I was assistant director to the celebrated Andrzej Żuławski on the French film opera “Boris Godunov”, shot in Dubrovnik.

On the set of Dušan Kovačević's The Professional — On the set of “The Professional” by Dušan Kovačević.

The crew of The Professional at the press conference in Montreal — The crew of “The Professional” after the world premiere in Montreal: Dušan Kovačević, Branislav Lečić, Bora Todorović, Dejan Vražalić and me.

^03. Filmography

I am the author of twelve documentary and docudrama films.

I wrote and directed the feature documentary “Kreka — The Dream Hunter”, which closed FEST in 2021. It is a film about Miljen Kreka Kljaković, our finest and internationally celebrated production designer, a man who left a deep mark on the seventh art. Several Oscar winners appear in it, among them Ridley Scott, Barry Levinson and Vittorio Storaro, as well as the actor Johnny Depp. The Association of Film Artists of Serbia named it the best documentary of that year.

“I cannot remember the last time FEST closed with so much beauty and so many cinematic wonders.” — Milan Vlajčić

2024: I wrote and directed “A House Among the Stars” (50 min), a documentary about forty years of the Zvezdara Theatre. The Association of Film Artists of Serbia gave it the “Krsto Škanata” award for the best documentary film of 2024.

The UFUS award ceremony for the film Kreka — The Dream Hunter — At the ceremony for the best feature documentary, “Kreka — The Dream Hunter”: composer Ana Krstajić, production designer Miljen Kreka Kljaković, me, and producer Jovana Jovičić.

Poster for the film Kreka — The Dream Hunter — The poster for “Kreka — The Dream Hunter”.

Slobodan Ivetić with the Krsto Škanata award for the film A House Among the Stars — With the Association of Film Artists of Serbia award for the best documentary, “A House Among the Stars” (2024).

Poster for the film A House Among the Stars — The poster for “A House Among the Stars”.

^04. Auteur Film Festival

I am one of the founders of the Auteur Film Festival and a member of its council. The award marking the festival's first two decades (2014) was presented to me by my colleague Srdan Golubović, today the council's president.

Srdan Golubović presenting Slobodan Ivetić with the Auteur Film Festival award — Receiving the award for two decades of the Auteur Film Festival (2014).

^05. Photography and exhibitions

As a photographer I have had a number of solo and group exhibitions, among them at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.

The exhibition “Remembering Ena” — photographs I took during the shooting of “The Fall of Italy” — opened in Pula in 2023. It drew wide media attention and was part of the programme celebrating the 70th anniversary edition of the Pula Film Festival.

The opening of the exhibition Remembering Ena in Pula in 2023 — At the opening of my exhibition “Remembering Ena” in Pula, in 2023.

The exhibition Remembering Ena at the 70th Pula Film Festival — “Remembering Ena” was part of the programme celebrating the 70th Pula Film Festival.