Croatian film producer (1932–2019)
Branko Lustig
Lustig at the
LAMOTH 2nd Annual Dinner in 2009
Born (1932-06-10 ) 10 June 1932Died 14 November 2019(2019-11-14) (aged 87) Occupation
Film producer Years active 1955
[1] –2019 Spouse
Mirjana Lustig
(
m. 1970)
Children 1 Parents
Mirko Lustig
Vilma Gütter
Branko Lustig (10 June 1932 – 14 November 2019) was a Croatian film producer best known for winning
Academy Awards for Best Picture for
Schindler's List and
Gladiator . He is the only person born in the territory of present-day
Croatia to have won two
Academy Awards .
[2]
Early life
Lustig was born in
Osijek ,
Kingdom of Yugoslavia to a
Croatian Jewish family. His father, Mirko, was head-waiter at an Osijek Café Central, and his mother, Vilma (Gütter), was a housewife. Lustig's grandparents, unlike his parents, were religious and he regularly attended the local
synagogue with them.
[3]
[4]
[5]
During
World War II , as a child he was imprisoned for two years in
Auschwitz and
Bergen-Belsen . Most members of his family perished in the death camps throughout Europe, including his grandmother who was killed in the
gas chamber , while his father was killed in
Čakovec on 15 March 1945. Lustig's mother survived the
Holocaust and was reunited with him after the war.
[6] On the day of the liberation, he weighed only 66 pounds (29.94 kg).
[3]
[7] Lustig credited his survival in Auschwitz to a German officer who happened to be from the same suburb of Osijek as Lustig. He overheard Lustig crying and asked him who his father was. It turned out the officer had known Lustig's father.
[8]
[9]
Movie career
Lustig began his film career in 1955 as an assistant director at
Jadran Film , a state-owned
Zagreb -based film production company.
[1] In 1956 he worked as a unit production manager on
Branko Bauer 's World War II drama
Ne okreći se sine , winner of three Golden Arena awards at the 1956
Pula Film Festival . Lustig was the location manager for
Fiddler on the Roof (1971).
[10] 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.
[1]
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 World War II). Lustig himself had a cameo early in the film as a nightclub maitre d’. In July 2015, Lustig presented the Oscar to
Yad Vashem for eternal safekeeping.
[11] 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 worked on as a producer or
executive producer include
The Peacemaker (1997),
Hannibal (2001), and
Black Hawk Down (2001). In 2008, Lustig helped establish an independent production company
Six Point Films to produce "meaningful, thought-provoking independent films".
[10]
Personal life and death
In 1994 Lustig received the
Order of Duke Trpimir by President
Franjo Tuđman for his work in film.
[1]
[12] In 2008 he became the first filmmaker ever, and second in the field of the arts (preceded by
Vladimir Nazor ), to be awarded an
honorary doctorate from the
University of Zagreb .
[2]
The
Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust honored Branko Lustig together with
Andreas Maislinger at his 2nd Annual Dinner on 8 November 2009 at the
Beverly Hills Hotel for his long-time commitment to Holocaust education and commemoration. Lustig is honorary president and one of the founding members of the Jewish Movie Festival in Zagreb.
[13] On 16 September 2010, he was awarded honorary citizenship of Osijek.
[14]
Lustig celebrated his
bar mitzvah on 2 May 2011 at Auschwitz, in front of barrack No. 24a. He missed his rite of passage as a 13-year-old because at the time he was a prisoner in the very same barrack, having been deported from Osijek when he was ten years old.
[4] The bar mitzvah ceremony was held during a
March of the Living educational tour of
Poland and
Israel for high school students.
[15]
Lustig resided between
Los Angeles and
Zagreb , and called both of the cities his home, although in the
Jutarnji list interview from September, 2012 he stated: "But more and more, slowly, I am returning to Zagreb. I'm coming back."
[16] In the
2017 local elections Lustig was elected member of the
Zagreb City Assembly as a candidate of
Milan Bandić 's
party list
[17] but eventually did not take his seat.[
citation needed ]
Lustig died in
Zagreb on 14 November 2019, aged 87.
[18]
[19]
[20]
[21]
Lustig's life was remembered in
BBC Radio 4 's obituary programme
Last Word in December 2019.
[22]
Filmography
References
^
a
b
c
d
"Hollywoodska večer za Branka Lustiga" .
Vjesnik (in Croatian). Archived from
the original on 28 May 2009. Retrieved 10 July 2008 .
^
a
b Penić, Goran.
"Oskarovac predavač na Akademiji" .
Jutarnji list (in Croatian). Archived from
the original on 11 July 2008. Retrieved 10 July 2008 .
^
a
b
"Moj put od logora do Hollywooda" .
Gloria (in Croatian). Archived from
the original on 6 October 2011. Retrieved 21 December 2010 .
^
a
b
"S Oscarovcem Lustigom na bar micvi u Auschwitzu: Mazel tov, Branko!" . Jutarnji list (in Croatian).
Archived from the original on 10 May 2011. Retrieved 8 May 2011 .
^ Sandomir, Richard (21 November 2019).
"Branko Lustig, 87, Dies; Holocaust Survivor Turned Film Producer" . The New York Times .
^ Flax, Peter; Baum, Gary; Roxborough, Scott; Guthrie, Marisa; Lewis, Andy (16 December 2015).
"Hollywood's Last Survivors of the Holocaust share their stories" .
The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 16 December 2015 .
^
"U Hollywoodu održana večer posvećena Branku Lustigu" .
Jutarnji list (in Croatian).
Archived from the original on 28 May 2009. Retrieved 10 July 2008 .
^
Branko Lustig: Plakao sam Hrvatski (Crying in Croatian ) on
YouTube , Nova TV Interview , October 2010.
^
"Branko Lustig: 'Logorovao sam s Annom Frank' " . Dnevnik.hr (in Croatian). 22 May 2009.
Archived from the original on 26 March 2017. Retrieved 26 March 2017 .
^
a
b
"Branko Lustig" . www.cinema.com . Archived from
the original on 26 August 2006. Retrieved 20 August 2006 .
^
"Branko Lustig, 'Schindler's List' Producer, Donates Oscar to Yad Vashem" .
NBC News . 22 July 2015.
Archived from the original on 22 July 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2019 .
^
"Odluka o dodjeli Ordena kneza Trpimira" . narodne-novine.nn.hr . Retrieved 10 February 2020 .
^
"Festival Židovskog filma Zagreb" . www.jff-zagreb.hr (in Croatian). Archived from
the original on 1 June 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2011 .
^
"Branko Lustig primio priznanje počasnog građanina grada Osijeka" . Osijek.hr (in Croatian). 16 September 2010. Archived from
the original on 4 October 2011. Retrieved 16 May 2011 .
^ Torok, Ryan.
"‘Schindler’s List’ producer named Mensch"
Archived 24 August 2016 at the
Wayback Machine , jewishjournal.com, 6 February 2013; accessed 6 February 2013.
^
"Lustig: 'Bio sam nedavno u Auschwitzu i bilo me je sram! Vijorile su se sve zastave svijeta. Osim moje Hrvatske' " . Jutarnji list (in Croatian).
Archived from the original on 24 September 2012. Retrieved 22 September 2012 .
^
"U ZG skupštinu ulaze poznata glazbenica, bivše ministrice, proslavljeni filmski producent..." dnevnik.hr (in Croatian).
Archived from the original on 22 May 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2017 .
^
"UMRO BRANKO LUSTIG Dvostruki dobitnik Oscara napustio nas je u 88. godini - Jutarnji List" . www.jutarnji.hr . 14 November 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2019 .
^
" "Schindler's List" Producer Branko Lustig Dies at 87" . The New York Times . 14 November 2019.
ISSN
0362-4331 . Retrieved 14 November 2019 .
^
" "Schindler's List" producer Branko Lustig dies at 87" . ABC News . Retrieved 14 November 2019 .
^
"Branko Lustig, Oscar-Winning Producer of 'Schindler's List' and Holocaust Survivor, Dies at 87" .
The Hollywood Reporter . 14 November 2019.
^ Presenter:
Matthew Bannister ; Contributor: Michael Goldfarb; Producer: Neil George (22 December 2019).
"Last Word: Kenny Lynch OBE, Chris Moncrieff CBE, Kate Figes, Branko Lustig" .
Last Word . 13:35 minutes in.
BBC .
BBC Radio 4 . Retrieved 22 December 2019 .
^
a
b
c
d
e
"Branko Lustig" . IMDb . Retrieved 26 April 2021 .
External links
Awards for Branko Lustig
1951–1975 1976–2000
Robert Chartoff and
Irwin Winkler (1976)
Charles H. Joffe (1977)
Michael Cimino ,
Michael Deeley , John Peverall and
Barry Spikings (1978)
Stanley R. Jaffe (1979)
Ronald L. Schwary (1980)
David Puttnam (1981)
Richard Attenborough (1982)
James L. Brooks (1983)
Saul Zaentz (1984)
Sydney Pollack (1985)
Arnold Kopelson (1986)
Jeremy Thomas (1987)
Mark Johnson (1988)
Lili Fini Zanuck and
Richard D. Zanuck (1989)
Kevin Costner and
Jim Wilson (1990)
Ron Bozman ,
Edward Saxon and
Kenneth Utt (1991)
Clint Eastwood (1992)
Branko Lustig ,
Gerald R. Molen and
Steven Spielberg (1993)
Wendy Finerman ,
Steve Starkey and
Steve Tisch (1994)
Bruce Davey ,
Mel Gibson and
Alan Ladd Jr. (1995)
Saul Zaentz (1996)
James Cameron and
Jon Landau (1997)
Donna Gigliotti ,
Marc Norman ,
David Parfitt ,
Harvey Weinstein and
Edward Zwick (1998)
Bruce Cohen and
Dan Jinks (1999)
David Franzoni ,
Branko Lustig and
Douglas Wick (2000)
2001–present
Brian Grazer and
Ron Howard (2001)
Martin Richards (2002)
Peter Jackson ,
Barrie M. Osborne and
Fran Walsh (2003)
Clint Eastwood ,
Tom Rosenberg and
Albert S. Ruddy (2004)
Paul Haggis and
Cathy Schulman (2005)
Graham King (2006)
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen and
Scott Rudin (2007)
Christian Colson (2008)
Kathryn Bigelow ,
Mark Boal ,
Nicolas Chartier and
Greg Shapiro (2009)
Iain Canning ,
Emile Sherman and
Gareth Unwin (2010)
Thomas Langmann (2011)
Ben Affleck ,
George Clooney and
Grant Heslov (2012)
Dede Gardner ,
Anthony Katagas ,
Jeremy Kleiner ,
Steve McQueen and
Brad Pitt (2013)
Alejandro G. Iñárritu ,
John Lesher and
James W. Skotchdopole (2014)
Blye Pagon Faust ,
Steve Golin ,
Nicole Rocklin and
Michael Sugar (2015)
Dede Gardner ,
Jeremy Kleiner and
Adele Romanski (2016)
J. Miles Dale and
Guillermo del Toro (2017)
Jim Burke , Brian Currie,
Peter Farrelly ,
Nick Vallelonga and
Charles B. Wessler (2018)
Bong Joon-ho and
Kwak Sin-ae (2019)
Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey,
Frances McDormand ,
Peter Spears and
Chloé Zhao (2020)
Fabrice Gianfermi,
Philippe Rousselet , Patrick Wachsberger (2021)
Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert and
Jonathan Wang (2022)
Emma Thomas ,
Charles Roven , and
Christopher Nolan (2023)
1990s
Goodfellas –
Martin Scorsese ,
Robert Chartoff , and
Irwin Winkler (1990)
The Commitments –
Alan Parker ,
Lynda Myles , and Roger Randall-Cutler (1991)
Howards End –
James Ivory and
Ismail Merchant (1992)
Schindler's List –
Steven Spielberg ,
Branko Lustig , and
Gerald R. Molen (1993)
Four Weddings and a Funeral –
Mike Newell and
Duncan Kenworthy (1994)
Sense and Sensibility –
Ang Lee and
Lindsay Doran (1995)
The English Patient –
Anthony Minghella and
Saul Zaentz (1996)
The Full Monty –
Peter Cattaneo and
Uberto Pasolini (1997)
Shakespeare in Love –
Donna Gigliotti ,
Marc Norman ,
David Parfitt ,
Harvey Weinstein , and
Edward Zwick (1998)
American Beauty –
Bruce Cohen and
Dan Jinks (1999)
2000s
Gladiator –
David Franzoni ,
Branko Lustig , and
Douglas Wick (2000)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring –
Peter Jackson ,
Barrie M. Osborne ,
Tim Sanders , and
Fran Walsh (2001)
The Pianist – Robert Benmussa,
Roman Polanski , and
Alain Sarde (2002)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King –
Peter Jackson ,
Barrie M. Osborne , and
Fran Walsh (2003)
The Aviator –
Sandy Climan ,
Charles Evans Jr. ,
Graham King , and
Michael Mann (2004)
Brokeback Mountain –
Diana Ossana and
James Schamus (2005)
The Queen –
Andy Harries ,
Christine Langan , and
Tracey Seaward (2006)
Atonement –
Tim Bevan ,
Eric Fellner , and
Paul Webster (2007)
Slumdog Millionaire –
Christian Colson (2008)
The Hurt Locker –
Kathryn Bigelow ,
Mark Boal ,
Nicolas Chartier , and
Greg Shapiro (2009)
2010s
The King's Speech –
Iain Canning ,
Emile Sherman , and
Gareth Unwin (2010)
The Artist –
Thomas Langmann (2011)
Argo –
Ben Affleck ,
George Clooney , and
Grant Heslov (2012)
12 Years a Slave –
Dede Gardner ,
Anthony Katagas ,
Jeremy Kleiner ,
Steve McQueen , and
Brad Pitt (2013)
Boyhood –
Richard Linklater and
Cathleen Sutherland (2014)
The Revenant –
Steve Golin ,
Alejandro G. Iñárritu ,
Arnon Milchan ,
Mary Parent , and
Keith Redmon (2015)
La La Land –
Fred Berger ,
Jordan Horowitz , and
Marc Platt (2016)
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri –
Graham Broadbent ,
Peter Czernin , and
Martin McDonagh (2017)
Roma –
Nicolás Celis ,
Alfonso Cuarón , and
Gabriela Rodríguez (2018)
1917 –
Pippa Harris , Callum McDougall,
Sam Mendes , and Jayne-Ann Tenggren (2019)
2020s
Nomadland – Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey,
Frances McDormand ,
Peter Spears , and
Chloé Zhao (2020)
The Power of the Dog –
Jane Campion ,
Iain Canning ,
Roger Frappier ,
Tanya Seghatchian , and
Emile Sherman (2021)
All Quiet on the Western Front –
Malte Grunert (2022)
Oppenheimer –
Christopher Nolan ,
Charles Roven , and
Emma Thomas (2023)
International National People