Vili Matula

{{Infobox person

| name = Vili Matula

| image = Vili-825x510.jpg

| caption =

| birth_name = Vilim Matula

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1962|3|5}}

| birth_place = Zagreb, PR Croatia, FPR Yugoslavia

| death_date =

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| other_names =

| occupation = {{hlist|Actor|director|producer|comedian|civil rights activist}}

| years_active = 1978–present

| spouse = Branka Trlin

| awards =

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Vilim "Vili" Matula (born 5 March 1962) is a Croatian actor, director, activist, and politician. He serves as a representative in the Croatian Parliament for green left coalition We Can!.{{cite web |last1=Stipić |first1=Tomislav |title=Vili Matula: Škorin stih o 'čudnim ljudima čudnog imena' je čudovišan |url=https://danica.hr/vili-matula-skorin-stih-o-cudnim-ljudima-cudnog-imena-je-cudovisan/ |website=danica.hr |date=2 July 2020}}

Matula's acting roles include S.P.U.K., Infection, 100 Minutes of Glory, Wallenberg: A Hero's Story, Schindler's List, and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. He works with the Kerempuh Satirical Theatre in Zagreb.

Early life

Matula attended elementary and high school in Zagreb{{cite web |title=Vilim Matula |url=https://kazalistekerempuh.hr/ansambl/vilim-matula/ |website=kazalistekerempuh.hr |publisher=Kerempuh Theater}} and was a member of the Zagreb Youth Theatre college. In 1978, Matula started his own theatre group, "Domaći" before enrolling in the Academy of Dramatic Art in 1980. After graduating in 1985, he joined Zagreb's Comedy Theatre. In 1988, Matula co-founded Zagreb's Acting Studio, intended for developing acting skills with techniques such as the Strasberg Method, the Chekhov Technique, Meyerhold's Biomechanics, and the Alexander Technique.

In 1993, Matula attended the Summer Acting Programme at the Royal National Theatre in London. From 1987 to 1997, he was employed in the drama ensemble of the Zagreb Youth Theatre.

Career

=Acting=

In 2000, he participated in the launching of the Boal Forum Theatre by invitation from theatrologist and feminist critic Nataša Govedić. In 2001, Matula started his collaboration with Damir Bartol Indoš and The House of Extreme Music Theatre Group Kugla. In 2008, he appeared in a supporting role in Metastases, for which he won a Marul award and a Croatian Theatre Award. He was nominated for an Apollo Prize at the Belgrade Culture Festival.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}

Matula has appeared in Tranquilizer Gun, Is It Clear, My Friend?, Infection, 100 Minutes of Glory, Long Dark Night, and Šuma summarum. For his role in 100 Minutes of Glory, Matula won Best Supporting Actor at the Pula Film Festival.{{cite web |title=Post festum 51. Pula film festivala |url=http://www.filmski.net/vijesti/filmski/dugometrazni-film/1427/post-festum-51-pula-film-festivala |website=filmski.net |language=Croatian}} He has also appeared in productions of Wallenberg: A Hero's Story, Schindler's List, and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (where he played Horatio). His television work includes guest roles on Zakon!, Naša mala klinika, and Žutokljunac. Matula has also filmed and produced television specials and shorts for the Motovun Film Festival.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

Matula has recorded several hundred radio dramas. His spoken word discography includes reciting works by August Šenoa, Ivan Goran Kovačić, Ante Kovačić, Vladimir Nazor, and Miroslav Krleža. He provided vocals for three songs on the Punk Cabaret album by Stanislav Kovačić.{{cite web|url=https://www.tportal.hr/kultura/clanak/stanislav-kovacic-predstavio-glazbenu-pricu-u-formi-punk-cabaret-kazalista-foto-20200121|title=Stanislav Kovačić predstavio glazbenu priču u formi punk cabaret kazališta|website=tportal.hr}} He voiced several characters on the Croatian-American animated film The Elm-Chanted Forest, Chum in the Croatian dub of Finding Nemo (2003), and Sterling in the Croation dub of Cars 3 (2017).{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

= Politics =

Matula was a member of the League of Communists of Croatia, as well as delegateAnali Hrvatskog politološkog društva, Hrvatsko politološko društvo, 2010., ISSN 1845–6707, ISSN 1847–5299 (Online), str. 1931., in the 11th and final convention of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Croatia, which resulted in the first democratic elections in 1989 of the Socialist Republic of Croatia, then part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

Matula has opposed the Right to the city movement PravoNaGRAD in Zagreb{{cite web|url=https://100posto.jutarnji.hr/scena/zivimo-u-izopacenoj-kriminalnoj-orgiji-od-drustva-gdje-se-pljacke-prikrivaju-laznim-domoljubljem|title=INTERVJU: VILIM MATULA / 'Živimo u izopačenoj kriminalnoj orgiji od društva gdje se pljačke prikrivaju lažnim domoljubljem'|website=100posto.jutarnji.hr}} as well as neo-fascism.{{cite web|title=Matula raspalio u Otvorenom: Probajte diplomatski s Merkelicom objasniti da postoje različiti oblici 'Sieg Heila', Lučić mu odgovorio usporedbom s Mladićem|url=https://www.tportal.hr/vijesti/clanak/matula-raspalio-u-otvorenom-probajte-diplomatski-s-merkelicom-objasniti-da-postoje-razliciti-oblici-sieg-heil-to-je-sramota-foto-20190508|website=tportal.hr}} 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!), a progressive citizen platform{{cite web|title=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.'|date=20 September 2017 |url=http://www.zagrebjenas.hr/zagreb-is-ours }} registered as a green-municipalist party. In the Zagreb municipal elections of 2017, Matula entered as a candidate in the borough council of Donji grad as vice president. His focus included council suppression and corrupt behavior of city authorities.{{cite web |title=Prezir spram vijeća, zlostavljanje službenice |url=https://www.zagrebjenas.hr/prezir-spram-vijeca-zlostavljanje-sluzbenice/ |website=zagrebjenas.hr |date=8 March 2019}} 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.{{cite web |title=Ljudi - Možemo! |url=https://www.mozemo.hr/ljudi/ |website=mozemo.hr |access-date=15 May 2021}} He was elected to the Croatian Parliament with six other members of the coalition.{{cite web |title=The future of the Croatian left: Mozemo! |url=https://www.index.hr/eng/croatia/article/the-future-of-the-croatian-left-mozemo/2195930.aspx |website=Index.hr |date=6 July 2020}} In 2017, Matula signed the Declaration on the Common Language of the Croats, Serbs, Bosniaks, and Montenegrins.[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XVGV5Z306SeDFzpdpUHhfeK-voAFdaakS48LqXfGozA/pubhtml Signatories of the Declaration on the Common Language], official website, retrieved on 2018-08-16.

Selected filmography

=Television=

class="wikitable sortable"
Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" \| Notes
1985 \|Wallenberg: A Hero's Story \|Second SS Sergant \|TV film
1987 \|The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission \|Karl - Krieger's Aide \|TV film

class="wikitable sortable"

Year

! Title

! Role

! class="unsortable" | Notes

1985

|Wallenberg: A Hero's Story

|Second SS Sergant

|TV film

1987

|The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission

|Karl - Krieger's Aide

|TV film

=Film=

class="wikitable sortable"
Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" \| Notes
1993 \|Schindler's List \|Investigator \|
1996 \|Sedma kronika \|Antonije \|
2004 \|100 Minutes of Glory \|Rapacki \|

class="wikitable sortable"

Year

! Title

! Role

! class="unsortable" | Notes

1993

|Schindler's List

|Investigator

1996

|Sedma kronika

|Antonije

2004

|100 Minutes of Glory

|Rapacki

Awards

1988: Orestija Award for Orestija
1989: Dubravko Dujšin, Veljko Maričić, and Golden Laughter awards for the play Dekadencija
1998: Veljko Maričić, Mila Dimitrijević, Vladimir Nazor, and Croatian Theatre awards for Best Actor and Best Monodrama for "Münchhausen"
2004: Golden Arena for Best Supporting Actor
2008:Marul and Croatian Theatre awards for supporting role in Metastases
2010: Marul and Golden Laughter awards at the Kerempuh Satire Festival for Balon
2010: Orlando Award at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival for lead role in Gogol's Revizor
2019: Apollo Prize and Marul Award for Best Actor in Govori glasnije!