Lazar "Laza" Ristovski (Serbian Cyrillic: Лазар Ристовски, born 26 October 1952) is a Serbian retired actor, director, producer and writer. He has appeared on stage about 4,000 times, and starred in over 40 films, TV series and TV dramas, mostly in lead roles.[3][4] He briefly served as a member of the National Assembly from 1 August 2022 until his resignation on 9 August 2022.

Lazar Ristovski
Лазар Ристовски
Lazar Ristovski in February 2011
Member of the National Assembly
In office
1 August 2022 – 9 August 2022
Personal details
Born (1952-10-26) 26 October 1952 (age 71)
Ravno Selo, PR Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia
Political partyIndependent
Spouse
Danica Ristovski
(before 2022)
ChildrenJovan, Petar[1][2]
OccupationActor, director, producer and writer
NicknameLaza

Biography edit

He was born on 26 October 1952, in Ravno Selo village, part of Vrbas, SR Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia (modern Serbia), into a family of Yugoslav colonists, his father being born in Macedonia and was from Gugjakovo and his mother in Montenegro. He graduated from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts of the University of Belgrade as an actor.

In 1999 The White Suit an auteur film by Ristovski (director, writer, lead actor, and producer) was at the Cannes Film Festival in the Critics Week program.[5] The White Suit was the Serbian entry for the 1999 Academy Awards.[citation needed]

 
Lazar Ristovski presenting the film Train Driver's Diary at the Prague Independent Film Festival in 2017

Lazar Ristovski is the sole owner of Zillion Film Company[6]

In 2006, he made a small appearance in the James Bond film Casino Royale. He played Caruso in the 2004 movie King of Thieves. He starred as Đorđe in the award-winning 2009 film St. George Shoots the Dragon.

Ristovski has achieved his "Hollywood dream" by acting in the indie movie Along the Roadside. He most recently played Russian President-elect and former Army General Arkady Fedorov in Pierce Brosnan's movie The November Man which came out in 2014.

In 2016 he starred in and produced the film Train Driver's Diary which was the Serbian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards.[7][8][9] The film won three awards at the 2017 Prague Independent Film Festival – the Grand Prix, Best Actor (Lazar Ristovski), and Best Feature Film.[10][11][12]

Ristovski is the organizer of the Ravno Selo Film Festival which was held for the first time in June 2017.[13][14]

He is also the author of four books; Belo odelo (The White Suit),[15] Kako sam dobio Oskara (How I Got an Oscar),[16] Jednostavne priče (Simple Stories)[17] and Ulična akademija (Street Academy).[18]

Political career edit

Ristovski appeared in the fourth position on the Serbian Progressive Party's Together We Can Do Everything electoral list in the 2022 general election as an independent candidate.[19][20] This was tantamount to election, and he was indeed elected when the list won a plurality victory with 120 out of 250 seats. He said before the assembly convened that he planned to resign his mandate, which indeed he did on 9 August 2022.[21][22] Speculation followed that he was under consideration to become minister of culture in the Serbian government; ultimately, he did not receive the position.[23]

Selected filmography edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Idilični glumački brakovi koji odolevaju trendu razvoda". Hello!.
  2. ^ "Laza Ristovski: Nije mi smetalo da mi sin naređuje". blic.rs. October 2015.
  3. ^ "Lazar Ristovski: "An Wien mag ich die Multikulturalität"". kosmo.at. 16 March 2017.
  4. ^ "INTERVJU, LAZAR RISTOVSKI: Sve sam sebi sam smislio". ekspress.net.
  5. ^ "38e SELECTION DE LA SEMAINE DE LA CRITIQUE – 1999". International Critics' Week.
  6. ^ "Home". zillionfilm.com.
  7. ^ "Filipović: Istražiti ko bira srpskog kandidata za Oskara". N1. 3 September 2016. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  8. ^ "It Is Decided: This is Serbian candidate for the Oscars!". Telegraf. 6 September 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  9. ^ Holdsworth, Nick (13 September 2016). "Oscars: Serbia Selects 'Train Driver's Diary' for Foreign-Language Category". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  10. ^ "Dnevniku mašinovođe "Zlatna zvezda" Praga". RTV.
  11. ^ "Pobeda srpskog filma u Pragu: Nagrada i Lazi Ristovskom (VIDEO)". Telegraf. 7 August 2017.
  12. ^ "Train Driver's Diary wins awards at Prague festival". Tanjug.
  13. ^ "Ravno Selo Film Festival".
  14. ^ "Lazar Ristovski: Osetio sam mržnju zbog mog političkog angažmana, ne želim da vraćam istom merom..." Hello!.
  15. ^ "Lazar Ristovski preporučuje knjige". culturama.rs.
  16. ^ "Lazar Ristovski: Umjetnost mora da boli". vijesti.me.
  17. ^ "Jednostavne priče Lazara Ristovskog". blic.rs. 8 June 2015.
  18. ^ "Ulična akademija, roman Lazara Ristovskog". nedeljnik.rs.
  19. ^ "Novi aduti SNS-a na izborima: Nada Macura, Nenad Ristović, Lazar Ristovski, Lepomir Ivković..." (in Serbian). 18 February 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
  20. ^ "Lazar Ristovski i dr Danica Grujičić - neke od nestranačkih ličnosti na listi SNS". www.021.rs (in Serbian). 6 February 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
  21. ^ "Lazar Ristovski: Neću biti poslanik, ali to više ne bih komentarisao", Danas, 29 July 2022, accessed 3 August 2022.
  22. ^ Current Legislature, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 15 September 2022.
  23. ^ "Posle vraćanja mandata u Skupštini krenule spekulacije: Ko je od 11 poslanika, mahom sa lista SNS i SPS, viđen za ministra?", Danas, 15 September 2022, accessed 15 September 2022.

External links edit