Petar Jakonic

Born in 1958 in Belgrade. Graduated from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade in the film and television editing department. Began work on film in amateur-alternative film clubs, Kino klub 8 and AFTVC at the Students' City Cultural Center in Belgrade. From 1974 to 1981 made several experimental films. For the alternative film "First Shaving" received the federal award "Seven Secretaries of SKOJ" in 1980. Wrote film reviews and essays. Coauthored a book on a pioneer of Yugoslav cinematography, Vojin Nanovic. Edited 18 full feature films and a large number of short and documentary films, music videos and commercials. Coauthored scripts for 2 full feature films and 1 television series. Independently directed 3 television series, 1 full feature documentary film, and in one series directed the second team. Recipient of the highest award for film editing: "National Film Awards for Editing" at the Yugoslav Film Festival in Herceg Novi for the full feature films "Bolje od bekstva" [Better Than Escape] and "Ni na nebu ni na zemlji" [Neither Here or There] in 1993 and 1994, respectively, and the "Crystal Prism" award from the Academy of Film Art and Science in 1995 for the film "Ni na nebu ni na zemlji". In 1999 received the award "Best B-movie Editing" for the film "Zbogom XX vek" [Farewell 20th Century] at the B-movie Film Festival in Phoenix USA. For the films for which he coauthored the scripts and did the editing, "Zemlja istine, slobode i ljubavi" [Land of Truth, Freedom and Love] received the award for directing "Rainer Werner Fassbinder" at the Mannheim Festival in year 2000. For the script of the film "Zamlja istine, slobode i ljubavi" received top prize together with coauthors, Milutin Petrovic and Sasa Radojevic, at the Film Script Festival in Vrnjci Spa in 2001.