Branko Đurić

Branko Đurić (Cyrillic: Бранко Ђурић; born 28 May 1962), commonly known mononymously as Đuro (Cyrillic: Ђуро), is a Bosnian actor,^[1] comedian, film director, and musician who lives and works in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Born and raised in Sarajevo, Đurić appeared in a comedy series Top lista nadrealista in the 1980s. He was also one of the founding members of the band SCH in 1983, as well being the front man of the Sarajevo rock band Bombaj Štampa.^[2] In August 1992, several months into the Bosnian War, he moved to Slovenia, where he has lived since.

He also starred in the Academy Award-winning film No Man's Land and played supporting roles in numerous films, including The Smell of Quinces, Time of the Gypsies, Kuduz, Bal-Can-Can, In the Land of Blood and Honey and See You in Montevideo. He also created the comedy series Naša mala klinika. Adaptations exist in Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia.

Branko Đurić was born on May 28, 1962, to a Serb father from Kruševac and a Bosnia mother, Fadila.^[3] His father died of cancer when he was one year old.^[4]

At fourteen, his widowed mother married painter Branislav "Branko" Popovac, who encouraged Đurić to pursue his artistic talents.^[5]

Đurić completed his secondary education at the First Sarajevo Gymnasium in 1980. In 1981, he applied to the Academy of Performing Arts (ASU), a newly established faculty within the University of Sarajevo, but was rejected. Following this rejection, he enrolled in journalism studies at the University of Sarajevo's Faculty of Political Sciences.

While working as an extra in various TV productions in Sarajevo, Ðurić continued applying to the ASU. After two further rejections in 1982 and 1983, he was accepted on his fourth attempt in 1984, at which point he quit his journalism degree to pursue his studies in performing arts.

In April 1984, Đurić became involved with Top lista nadrealista, a prime time television show on TV Sarajevo that combined folk music with sketch comedy. The show was created by a group of Sarajevo youth from the New Primitivism subculture and featured comedic sketches interspersed with performances by local folk music stars. Before Top lista nadrealista the group had been making a 15-minute weekly radio segment airing as part of the Saturday morning Primus program on Radio Sarajevo's channel two.

While filming Top lista nadrealista, Đurić also starred in a music video for Zabranjeno Pušenje's song "Neću da budem Švabo u dotiranom filmu" in 1984, produced by TV Sarajevo.^[6] During filming, Đurić mentioned his challenges in getting accepted at the ASU to the director, Ademir Kenović. Kenović connected Đurić with film director Vuk Janić who helped him prepare material for another audition, which resulted in Đurić's acceptance into ASU later that year.

From June 1984, episodes of Top lista nadrealista aired on TV Sarajevo's second channel. Reception was initially tepid but warmed over time. Đurić played multiple characters, including a jumpy TV station security guard with the catchphrase "Ćega, ba". The show's popularity and focus on folk music led to the cast receiving offers from local promoters and managers, including Rizo Rondić, to perform sketch comedy at live shows and tours across Bosnia.

Đurić and his colleague Zenit Đozić accepted many of these offers throughout 1984, performing as comic relief on folk music tours including "Udri kapom o ledinu", "Zasviraj i za pojas zadjeni" and "Prođoh Bosnu pjevajući".^[7][8]

In 1984 and 1985, Đurić participated in Audicija, a stage comedic production that began as an academic project consisting of ASU students creating, developing and performing characters based on various individuals applying to the academy. Conceptualized as a series of one-on-one auditions between each applicant and a professor, with students drawing upon their own auditioning experiences, the production gained prominence after one of its stage shows was filmed and broadcast on TV Sarajevo's Noćni program.^[9] Đurić's friend, the streetwise Sarajevan Solomon Bičakćić, performed alongside fellow academy students Željko Ninčić, Admir Glamočak, Emir Hadžihafizbegović, Haris Burina, Saša Petrović, Jasmin Geljo, Željko Kecojević, Senad Bašić and Mladen Nelević. Despite largely negative critical reception, Đurić performed in 150 stagings of the show across Yugoslavia before quitting,^[9] while other students at ASU continued to perform the show across the country.

In 1985, Ðurić continued his comedic everyman persona, starring in a series of television commercials for the local tourist board in Sarajevo, including promoting tourism on Jahorina and Bjelašnica mountains around the city, with a catchphrase recycled from Audicija; "Joj razlike, drastićne" ('Oh, the differences, drastic'); delivered in a heavy Sarajevan accent.^[9][10][11] At first, the commercial, directed by Đurić's old friend and professional collaborator Ademir Kenović and produced by Ismet "Nuno" Arnautalić with Goran Bregović providing the music, aired fairly infrequently.^[9] However, they would soon gain further significance as their jingle-like tune (composed by Bregović & featuring vocals by Ðurić) was made into a full-length track called "Hajdemo u planine" ('Let's Go to the Mountains') on the next studio album released by Bregović's band Bijelo Dugme. The album was titled Pljuni i zapjevaj moja Jugoslavijo and was released in November 1986, this time sung by the band's vocalist Alen Islamović.^[12] With the song in heavy radio rotation and the album selling well, the commercials also began airing a lot more frequently, leading to a surge of popularity for Đurić throughout late 1986 and early 1987.^[9] Due to Bregović's habit of reusing old material, the same tune was performed in 1992 by Iggy Pop with different lyrics, titled "Get the Money" for the soundtrack of Arizona Dream.^[13]

Also in 1985, while still in the first year of his ASU studies, Ðurić was cast by Kenović for the leading role in the television drama Ovo malo duše. A rural coming-of-age story written by Ranko Božić, Đurić portrayed Ibrahim Halilović, a newly widowed father in a remote Bosnian village. The movie aired on TV Sarajevo in January 1987. Ovo malo duše led to further dramatic roles for Đurić, including in the series Znak (aired on TV Sarajevo) and the film Vanja (on TV Novi Sad).

Ðurić starred in television commercials for Dedo and Nana coffee, returning to the persona of a "good-natured, streetwise Sarajevo guy".^[14]

Ðurić experienced a career breakthrough when Palme d'Or-winning director Emir Kusturica cast him in Dom za vešanje; Ðurić's first role in a feature film. As Kusturica's first feature film after his Palme d'Or-winning previous effort, the project received significant attention, as well as a screening at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival. Though his part in the movie was minor, portraying a thug in Italy, Ðuric's performance was well received.

By 1989, Ðurić had appeared in several films and television productions across Yugoslavia. He played a supporting role in Kuduz, Kenović's feature film debut. He appeared in Kako je propao rokenrol, a three-story ensemble film by recent Belgrade Faculty of Dramatic Arts graduates, as the male lead in the third story, opposite actress Vesna Trivalić, about a young couple preparing for the arrival of their first baby.

In 1989, the second series of Top lista nadrealista's aired, which was met with positive reception. Ðurić played different comedic characters each week, including the policeman Rade Pendrek, the cranky television viewer Reuf, highly strung news director Đuđi, and do-it-yourself "Đurine kućne čarolije" segment host.

Ðurić fled Sarajevo in August 1992, four months after the beginning of its besiegement at the outbreak of the Bosnian War. He settled in Ljubljana.

He also worked in Croatia, where he had a TV show Pet Minuta Slave (Five Minutes of Fame) on Nova TV, as well as the comedy series Naša mala klinika (Our Little Clinic), aired on POP TV and Nova TV.

In the mid-2000s, Ðurić starred in and directed the sitcom Brat bratu, the Slovenian version of Only Fools and Horses; it was cancelled after thirteen episodes due to poor viewership.

In February 2007, Ðurić appeared on B92 television in Serbia in Ðurine žute minute short segments, a slightly different take on his "Ðurine kućne čarolije" sketch, which he performed on Top lista nadrealista. The segments, which had a commercial tie-in with Telekom Srbija's Žute strane (Yellow Pages), mostly received poor reviews and were quickly taken off the air.

In 2011, Ðurić played a Serbian soldier in the movie In the Land of Blood and Honey. This was Đurić's second movie about the Bosnian War, after No Man's Land.

Concurrent with his career in Yugoslav cinema and theatre, Đurić became involved in music starting in the early 1980s, when he formed a band, Ševe, with childhood friend Nedim Babović.

Đurić briefly joined the industrial rock band SCH in 1983 before joining Babović's band Bombaj Štampa. Despite sporadic activity, Bombaj Štampa released their eponymous debut album under Diskoton in 1987.

Ðurić reunited with Bombaj Štampa in December 2008 for a concert in Sarajevo alongside Nedim Babović, drummer Dragan Bajić, and bassist Ernie Mendillo. The band later released a new album in 2010.

On 25 July 2019, Đurić and Bombaj Štampa performed for two hours at the Zenica Summer Fest, including the debut of Čekić (a new song that was due for release later that year in September), as well as one opera.^[15]

Đurić married Slovenian actress and singer Tanja Ribič. ^[16]

He resides in Ljubljana, where he leads a production company named Theatre 55.^[17]

• Bombaj Štampa (1987)
• Ja Mnogo Bolje Letim Sam (1990)
• Neka DJ Odmah Dole CJ (2010)

• Rene Bitorajac
• Danis Tanović

• Official site Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
• Branko Đurić at IMDb