In the Name of the Father - Breda
Architect Breda Bizjak and her late father, Martin Bizjak, a painter, art teacher and cultural activist, are the central characters of the fourth episode of the documentary series "In the Name of the Father" made by director and screenwriter Ines Pletikos. With several visionaries, Martin Bizjak initiated the post-war urban transformation of the city, and his daughter Breda, as the president of the Society of Architects of Istria, an activist and author of award-winning projects such as Zerostrasse, continues in his footsteps. She is the initiator of the most important initiatives aimed at revitalizing and protecting public spaces in accordance with the highest standards of the profession - architecture, urban planning and landscape architecture.

Martin Bizjak is the founder of institutions of fundamental importance for the cultural life of Pula in the second half of the twentieth century. From his hometown of Hrastnik, a mining town near Celje in the Savinja Valley, he arrived in Pula as a final year student of painting in 1957 to visit his mother and sister, who were treated for lung disease here as miners' wives. Blinded by the whiteness and the horizon, stunned by the mild climate and new friendships, he decided to look for a job as an art teacher. Elementary School. Moša Pijade was his first place of work. The rest is history. Wherever and with whomever he was and worked, he left behind new platforms in the new civilization with people who followed and built upon him. Cinema club Jelen, MAFAF, City Gallery, Yugoslav Film Festival, ceramic workshop and the archive of the Archaeological Museum on Brijuni. Together with Gorka Ostojić Cvajner, he initiated the restoration of INK in 1982, and after retiring, he founded HDLU Istria and continued where he left off in '57 - painting and drawing, literally until his death.
Breda Bizjak is currently the president of the Society of Architects of Istria, a group of intellectuals and engineers who, through their educational work, point out the importance of strategic planning and spatial design in a time when terms like "urbanism" and "public space" are perceived as a direct attack on the exponents of the uncontrolled rampage of neoliberal capital, the so-called investors, in politically unresisting societies in transition. From the perspective of her practice, Breda compares her own position with that of her father, the possibilities of her and his generation in creating, as she likes to say, "a better society for all of us".

Participants:

Breda Bizjak, architect
Gorka Ostojić Cvajner, art historian, gallerist
Janez Koželj, architect, professor of urban planning at the Faculty of Architecture in Ljubljana, retired deputy mayor of the Municipality of Ljubljana
Emil Jurcan, architect
Neva Bizjak, psychologist
Oto Širec, art historian, gallerist
Enčo Kurteši, musician
Armando Debeljuh, director
Tina Širec, art historian, museum pedagogue
Mario Benčić, journalist
Dušica Radojčić, political scientist
Aleksej Orel, activist
Branko Vunduk, restaurateur
Branko Bratković, architect

Thanks to:
Historical and Maritime Museum of Istria
INK Pula
Kino Valla
Kampanjoli Šikuta
Gallery Cvajner
Municipality of Ljubljana
Municipality of Hrastnik
Croatian Railways
Pula Film Factory
Ivan Đukić
Katja Florjanc
Bojan Šumonja
Mira Ploje
Luka Mihovilovich

Music in the film:

Tamara Obrovac Transhistria Ensemble & Jazz Orchestra of the Croatian Radio and Television
Conductor: Andreas Marinello
Kažeta / Little House | T. Obrovac / arr. A. Marinello
Črno zlo / Dark evil | T. Obrovac / M. Rakovac / arr. L. Žužić
Sama bez tebe / Alone without you | T. Obrovac / arr. A. Marinello
Črni malin / Black mill | T. Obrovac / D. Načinović / arr. Z. Majstorović
Se me ra morta privari / If death were to trick me | T. Obrovac / S. Brkarić Krculić / arr. L. Žužić
Madirosa | T. Obrovac / arr. A. Marinello
Tango istrando | T. Obrovac / arr. A. Marinello

The film uses archival materials from

Kino Klub Jelen,

Historical and Maritime Museum of Istria

Kino Valli

Production MEDVID

and private archives.

Author of the credits and graphics:
Bruno Razum

Postproduction of photography:
Michele Bulešić

Lighting:
Michele Bulešić

Igor Burlović

Sound:
Michele Bulešić

Igor Burlović

Postproduction of sound:
Michele Bulešić

Production assistant:
Nevena Trgovčić

Editing:
Brankica Drašković

Ana Šerić

Drone:
Marko Račan

Igor Popović

Camera:
Michele Bulešić

Kristijan Burlović

Screenplay and direction:
Ines Pletikos

The film is co-financed by the
Istrian County
and the City of Pula

Production:
BURRA
2024.