Lordan Zafranović was born in 1944, in Solta, Croatia. After being awarded a degree in Literature and Fine Arts from the University of Split, Zafranović enrolled at the famous FAMU in Prague where he studied film directing. He made his first films in the early 1960s. The films that marked the beginning of his established feature filmmaking career were Chronicle of a Crime (1973) and Passion According to Mathew (1975). His most important work, the first part of his WWII trilogy, Occupation in 26 Pictures (1978) was shown in Official Competition of Cannes International Film Festival. He followed this with two subsequent films of his WWII trilogy: The Fall of Italy (1981) and Evening Bells (1986). In the mid 1980s he turned to more intimate love themes. In his later years he produced a documentary feature called The Decline of the Century: Testament LZ (1994), and Revenge (1995)