Roko Belic

Last updated
Roko Belić
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater University of California, Santa Barbara
Occupation(s)Film producer and director
Years active1993–present
Notable work Genghis Blues , Happy
Style Documentary film
PartnerGael Firth
Children2

Roko Belic is an American film producer and director. His directorial debut, Genghis Blues , was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Contents

Early life and education

Belic was born to Czechoslovakian and Yugoslavian parents, Danica and Dr. Nenad Belic. [1] [2] During his childhood, his mother used a wrench to lock a broken dial on the family TV to the local PBS channel. [3] [4] His first film-making experience was in third grade with his brother, Adrian, when childhood friend Christopher Nolan borrowed a Super 8 movie camera from his parents. [1] With Nolan, Belic co–directed the surreal Super 8 film Tarantella (1989), which aired on Image Union, an independent film and video showcase on the Public Broadcasting Service. [5] Nolan and Roko also worked together on a documenting a safari across four African countries, organised by the late photojournalist Dan Eldon in the early 1990s. [6]

Belic grew up in suburban Chicago, attended Evanston Township High School [3] [7] [8] and later attended the University of California, Santa Barbara. [8] In April 1994, while a student at the university, Belic organized a gathering of 150 students who engaged with each other while nude. The gathering was titled "X-Hibition." [9]

Career

For his first feature, Belic was inspired by a story unfolding in the little-known Siberian republic of Tuva. Trusting his intuition, Belic purchased two cameras on credit and flew with his brother to Tuva to create the documentary feature, Genghis Blues (1999).[ citation needed ] Belic’s landmark film received an Academy Award nomination for best documentary feature and won over 70 international film festival awards including the Sundance Audience Award.[ citation needed ]

Belic associate produced Beyond the Call (2006), following three American soldiers-turned-humanitarians, traveling to war zones around the world delivering aid. The following year, Belic co-produced and shot Indestructible (2007), filmed in locations from China to Israel, following one man’s search for a cure for his terminal illness.

In 2010, Belic directed the documentary Dreams: Cinema Of The Subconscious, included on the Inception (2010) Blu-ray. Following its success, he directed The Batmobile, released on The Dark Knight Rises (2012) Blu-ray.

Belic teamed up with director Tom Shadyac ( Bruce Almighty , Liar Liar , The Nutty Professor ), who executive produced, to make the feature documentary Happy (2012). He directed the music video for the Grammy winning song Caravan by Opium Moon [10] and he most recently directed Trust Me (2020). [11]

Personal life

Belic has a daughter and son with longtime girlfriend, Gael Firth. [12] [13] [14] His father, Nenad, was a retired cardiologist who died while attempting to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean. [15]

Filmography

Director

Producer

Writer

Cinematographer

Actor

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References

  1. 1 2 "About WadiRum". wadirum.com. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
  2. ↑ Freedman, Rich (January 23, 2011). "Belic is back in Bay Area with 'Genghis Blues'". Vallejo Times Herald . Vallejo, California . Retrieved March 2, 2015.
  3. 1 2 Ramsey, Nancy (July 4, 1999). "How a Creole Singer Wowed Them in Shangri-La". The New York Times . New York City. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
  4. ↑ Curiel, Jonathan (July 1, 1999). "'Genghis' Lets Brothers Leave the Blues Behind/Pair scrimped five years to pay for documentary". San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco, California. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
  5. ↑ Mooney, Darren (2018). Christopher Nolan: A Critical Study of the Films. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 5. ISBN   978-14-766-7480-3.
  6. ↑ Eldon Turteltaub, Amy (7 December 2013). "Remembering My Brother Dan Eldon: A Journalist Who Died To Tell the Story". Huffingtonpost. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  7. ↑ Wilmington, Michael (January 29, 1999). "Documentaries, Foreign Films Are The Real Stars At Sundance". Chicago Tribune . Chicago, Illinois. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
  8. 1 2 Petrakis, John (September 24, 1999). "For The Love Of Tuva, 'Genghis Blues' Was Filmed". Chicago Tribune . Chicago, Illinois. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
  9. ↑ Tutt, Louise (13 May 1994). "Students bare all to remove psychological barriers". The Rose Thorn. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
  10. 1 2 "Opium Moon - Caravan [Official Video]". YouTube .
  11. ↑ "Trust Me (2020) - IMDb". IMDb .
  12. ↑ Gerhard, Susan (July 6, 2011). "Roko Belic Charts Path to 'Happy'". sf360.org. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
  13. ↑ Freedman, Rich (April 22, 2011). "Latest film, first child, keep Belic busy". Vallejo Times Herald . Vallejo, California. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
  14. ↑ Katz, Laura (February 8, 2012). "Interview with Roko Belic, Producer And Director Of Happy, A New Documentary". AskMissA.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
  15. ↑ McCann, Tom (December 10, 2001). "Dr. Nenad Belic, 62..." Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
  16. 1 2 "Dreams: Cinema of the Subconscious". IMDb .
  17. 1 2 "The Batmobile". IMDb .
  18. 1 2 3 "Trust Me". IMDb .
  19. 1 2 "Paradise". IMDb .
  20. ↑ "Happy (2012) - IMDb". IMDb .
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