Vili Matula

Vili Matula or Vilim Matula (born 5 March 1962 in Zagreb) is a Croatian actor, director, civil activist and politician. He is widely known as one of the most prominent Croatian actors of all time, as well as new representative in Croatian Parliament for green-left coalition We can! (Croatia).

Vili Matula
Born
Vilim Matula

(1962-03-05)5 March 1962
Zagreb, Croatia
Other namesVili
OccupationActor, director, producer, comedian, civil rights activist
Years active1978–present
Spouse(s)Branka Trlin

He is known for starring in films and television series including Croatian and Yugoslav cult classics S.P.U.K. (1983), Tranquilizer Gun (1997), Is It Clear, My Friend? (2000), Infection (2003), 100 Minutes of Glory (2004) and Long Dark Night (2004). He has also appeared in major international productions including Wallenberg: A Hero's Story (1985), Schindler's List (1993) and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990). He is a drama champion in the Kerempuh Satirical Theatre in Zagreb.

Early life

He finished elementary and high school in Zagreb. He was a member of the College of The Zagreb Youth Theatre. In 1978, Matula started his own theatre group "Domaći", two years before enrolling in the Academy of Dramatic Art. After graduating in 1985, he became a member of the Comedy Theatre (Zagreb) (Komedija). From 1987 to 1997, he was employed at the drama ensemble of the Zagreb Youth Theatre or ZKM (from Croatian: Zagrebačko Kazalište Mladih). In 1997 he became an independent artist.

In 1988 he co-founded Zagreb’s Acting Studio intended for developing acting skills by applying different techniques and methods (the Strasberg Method, the Chekhov Technique and the psychological gesture, Meyerhold's Biomechanics, The Alexander Technique, etc.). In 1993 he attended the Summer Acting Programme at the Royal National Theatre in London. In 1995 he attended Genadi Bogdanov’s seminars on Meyerhold's Biomechanics.

Career

During his student years from 1980 to 1985, he starred in over thirty plays and appeared several times on the screen, including the memorable supporting role as Nindja in S.P.U.K.. He also made minor roles in Vojnici and Dvije karte za grad.

In 2000 he initiated Boal's Forum Theatre in response to an invitation by theatrologist and feminist critic Nataša Govedić. The experience gained at the Forum Theatre is shared with war victims, refugees, ethnic minorities and other minorities as well as LGBT+ citizens. In 2001 he started his collaboration with Damir Bartol Indoš and The House of Extreme Music Theatre – Kugla (Swinging, Man-Wolf, Chinese Roulette, Green, Green, iCefas).

In 2008, he appeared in the Metastases play adaptation, for which he won Marul and a Croatian Theatre Award. For the supporting role, he was nominated for an Apollo Prize at the Belgrade Culture Festival.

On film, Matula is perhaps best known for his roles in Tranquilizer Gun, Is It Clear, My Friend?, Infection, 100 Minutes of Glory, Long Dark Night and Šuma summarum. For his role in the Matanić-directed 100 Minutes of Glory, Matula was named Best Supporting Actor at the Pula Film Festival, winning the Golden Arena. The Golden Arena is considered the Yugoslav equivalent to the American Academy Award.[1]

He has also appeared in major international productions including the Emmy-winning Wallenberg: A Hero's Story , starring Richard Chamberlain, the critically and commercially acclaimed Spielberg historical drama Schindler's List (1993) and the 1990 Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, starring Gary Oldman and Tim Roth. The latter seen Matula portray the complex Horatio and alongside Matula, several Croatian actors appeared as the tragedians. Those include Mladen Vasary, Željko Vukmirica, Livio Badurina and Sven Medvešek.

His television repertoire includes guest roles on Zakon!, Naša mala klinika and Žutokljunac. He has also filmed and produced several television specials and shorts for the Motovun Film Festival.[2]

Matula has recorded several hundred radio dramas. His spoken word discography includes reciting August Šenoa, Ivan Goran Kovačić, Ante Kovačić, Vladimir Nazor and Miroslav Krleža. He has also provided vocals for the Punk Cabaret album by Stanislav Kovačić, on three songs.[3] In animation, he has voiced several characters on the Croatian-American venture The Elm-Chanted Forest. In Croatian dubs, he voiced Chum in the Croatian dub of Finding Nemo (2003) and Sterling in Cars 3 (2017).

Matula is one of the most awarded Croatian actors in history.[4][5] [6][7][8] For his role as Rapački in 100 Minutes of Glory, he won the Golden Arena for Best Supporting Actor. Among other accolades, he has also won two Croatian Theatre Awards, two Orlando Awards, three Marul Awards and five Golden Laughter Awards.[9]

Filmography

Film roles

In chronological order (until 2011 only):

TV roles
  • Wallenberg: A Hero's Story (TV Movie) directed by Lamont Johnson (1985)
  • Smogovci (TV Series) as arms smuggler (1986)
  • Putovanje u Vučjak as Ignjac Šantek (1986)
  • Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission (TV Movie) directed by Lee H. Katzin (1987)
  • Ptice nebeske (TV series) (1989)
  • War and Remembrance (TV Series) as lieutenant von John (1989)
  • Dirigenti i mužikaši as priest (1990)
  • Death Train directed by David Jackson (1993)
  • Žutokljunac as director Sergej (2005)
  • Borgia (TV Series) created by Tom Fontana (2014)
  • Success (TV Series) directed by Danis Tanović (2019)

Voice-over work in Croatia

Awards

Politics

In youth

Matula has been involved in politics in different forms since his late teens. He was a member of the League of Communists of Croatia, as well as delegate[10] in the 11th and final convention of the Central Committee of the League of Communist of Croatia, which resulted in the first democratic elections in 1989 the Socialist Republic of Croatia, then part of SFR Yugoslavia.

In adulthood

Matula has since taken part in several civil initiatives, numerous demonstrations and always active in the fight against gentrification and the seizing of public spaces in Zagreb including local movement of Right to the city called PravoNaGRAD, but also a vocal critic of structural problems in society like corruption[2][11] and neo-fascism.[12] He's one of the founders of the Actor's union, of which he was also a president. Matula is a member of the coordinating committee of Zagreb is OURS! (Zagreb je NAŠ!) the progressive citizen platform[13] that registered as a green-municipalist party. In the Zagreb municipal elections in 2017, Matula as a candidate for party entered the borough council of Donji grad in Central Zagreb as its vice president.[14] His reports included council suppression, corruptive and manipulative behavior of city authorities.[15] In 2019 he became a founding member of the citizen platform We can! (Možemo!) that formed a green-left coalition for the 2020 parliamentary election where is presented as one of the candidates.[16] He got elected in Croatian Parliament together with 6 other members of the Coalition in a rather hard section of Croatia.[17]

Calling out by right-wing

Politically active as actor, unionist and activist, Matula is well known for his support for centre-left/green politics, including civil and LGBT rights, as well as periodically being called out in populist-right-wing portal Narod.HR[18][19] or in responses of conservative Vecernji.HR, for being against WW2 pro-fascist official Enver Čolaković, to be awarded a street name[20] as part of populist coalition trade-offs in Zagreb Assembly. In 2017, Matula signed the Declaration on the Common Language of the Croats, Serbs, Bosniaks and Montenegrins.[21]

References
  1. "Golden Arena is the Croatian equivalent of the Academy Award for Best Actress – London Critics Speak". Archived from the original on 10 July 2010. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  2. "Vilim Matula".
  3. "Stanislav Kovačić predstavio glazbenu priču u formi punk cabaret kazališta". tportal.hr.
  4. "Vili Matula biografija | Gorila".
  5. https://www.biografija.com/vilim-matula/
  6. "Slobodna Dalmacija – 'Nestala je moja majka': poznati hrvatski glumac objavio detaljan opis nestale žene i svoj broj, moli pomoć građana". slobodnadalmacija.hr. 30 March 2018.
  7. "VILI MATULA – 4 članaka | Express". express.24sata.hr.
  8. "Vili Matula na Diskontu". Cekate – Centar za kulturu Trešnjevka.
  9. "67. Pula Film Festival". www.pulafilmfestival.hr.
  10. Anali Hrvatskog politološkog društva, Hrvatsko politološko društvo, 2010., ISSN 1845–6707, ISSN 1847–5299 (Online), str. 1931.,
  11. "INTERVJU: VILIM MATULA / 'Živimo u izopačenoj kriminalnoj orgiji od društva gdje se pljačke prikrivaju lažnim domoljubljem'". 100posto.jutarnji.hr.
  12. "Matula raspalio u Otvorenom: Probajte diplomatski s Merkelicom objasniti da postoje različiti oblici 'Sieg Heila', Lučić mu odgovorio usporedbom s Mladićem". tportal.hr.
  13. "Zagreb is OURS!'...embraces Zagreb's less privileged and more vulnerable among us, including those impacted by discrimination based on class, age, health, ability, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, sex characteristics, nationality, language, religion, belief or lack of one, as well as other statuses and likely intersections.'".
  14. http://www.zagrebjenas.hr/nase-vijecnice-i-vijecnici/
  15. http://www.zagrebjenas.hr/izvjestaji-vijecnika/prezir-spram-vijeca-zlostavljanje-sluzbenice/
  16. https://www.mozemo.hr/ljudi/
  17. https://www.index.hr/eng/croatia/article/the-future-of-the-croatian-left-mozemo/2195930.aspx
  18. "Vilim Matula – glumac, građanski aktivist, Frljićev obožavatelj, nekadašnji član CK SKH –". Narod.hr. 29 January 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  19. "(VIDEO) Tko je Vilim Matula – bivši član Centralnog komiteta Saveza komunista Hrvatske? –". Narod.hr. 9 May 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  20. "Vilim Matula žešći od revolucionarne ljevice". www.vecernji.hr.
  21. Signatories of the Declaration on the Common Language, official website, retrieved on 2018-08-16.
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