2021
Kreka: Dreamcatcher
Director of Photography
Closed FEST, Belgrade Film Festival
Director · Cinematographer · Traveler · b. 1941
Five decades
behind the lens,
five continents in frame.
From Belgrade Television to the moai of Rapa Nui, from the Sepik river to the slopes of Tibet — a life filmed one journey at a time.
01 — Prologue
Born in Ivanjica in 1941. Graduate of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Belgrade. Thirty years at Television Belgrade, then a freelance life carrying a camera into every corner of the world — Papua New Guinea, Tibet, Patagonia, the Mekong.
Director of photography for Emir Kusturica on Super 8 Stories and Birdman. Author of In Search of Shambhala, filmed in Tibet. Creator of The World in the Palm of Your Hand — over 120 travel films across twenty-five years, broadcast throughout Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Croatia.
02 — Standout project
A life's work, on film.
A representative episode from decades of location cinematography — filmed, framed, and edited by Ratko Kušić.
Watch on Vimeo
03 — Svet na dlanu
Svet na dlanu
— the world, held in a hand.
The signature travel series Ratko Kušić shot as cameraman across twenty-five years and 120+ episodes. Produced with Kon Tiki Travel and broadcast throughout the region, it became the definitive portrait of a life spent filming the world.
Cameraman · Kon Tiki Travel
04 — Fieldwork
In the field
Frames from four decades of location work — always with the camera, always on the move.
Patagonia
Punta Tombo, Argentina
Papua New Guinea
Sepik mask ritual
Laos
On the Mekong river
Iceland
Þingvellir rift valley
Hawaii
Polynesian Cultural Center
Rapa Nui
Hanga Poukura cave
Andes
Looking for the next frame
Ethiopia
A roadside encounter
Japan
With geisha in Kyoto
Tibet
Monastery on the canyon edge
Tibet
High plateau survey
Myanmar
Temple courtyard
Myanmar
Harbor crossing
Myanmar
Morning procession
Ethiopia
Portrait in the field
05 — Travel diary
Worlds within the journey.
Not only landscapes, but encounters: Tibetan escarpments, Ethiopian villages, Myanmar crossings, Kyoto streets — travel as lived cinema.
Tibet
Monastery on the canyon edge
Tibet
High plateau survey
Ethiopia
Portrait in the field
Myanmar
Temple courtyard
Myanmar
Harbor crossing
Myanmar
Morning procession
06 — Atlas
The world,
in the palm of a hand.
Every continent, every climate. A non-exhaustive register of the places filmed for the series and its companion projects.
Oceania & Asia
Papua New Guinea · Indonesia · Philippines · Malaysia · Australia · New Zealand · China · India · Tibet · Russia
Central Asia
Uzbekistan · Ukraine · Kazakhstan · Turkmenistan · Kyrgyzstan
Middle East
UAE · Yemen · Oman · Qatar · Syria · Israel · Jordan · Lebanon
Africa
Egypt · Tunisia · Algeria · Ethiopia · Kenya · Mali · Seychelles · Tanzania · Uganda · Mozambique · Zambia · Zimbabwe · South Africa
Europe
All European countries
North America
USA coast to coast · Canada · Alaska
Central America & Caribbean
Mexico · Guatemala · El Salvador · Honduras · Nicaragua · Costa Rica · Panama · Belize · Cuba · Dominican Rep. · Jamaica · Trinidad & Tobago · Puerto Rico · Guadeloupe · Martinique · Barbados · Virgin Is. · St. Lucia · Curaçao
South America
Ecuador · Brazil · Argentina · Peru · Chile · Colombia · Venezuela · Bolivia · Uruguay · Easter Island · Galápagos · Cape Horn
07 — Credits
Selected works
—
Birdman
Director of Photography
Documentary with Emir Kusturica — ARTE
—
Super 8 Stories
Director of Photography
Documentary with Emir Kusturica
—
In Search of Shambhala
Co-writer · Cinematographer · Director
Feature documentary, filmed in Tibet
—
The World in the Palm of Your Hand
Co-writer · Cinematographer · Director
120+ episodes across 25 years
—
Arizona Dream · Underground · Balkan Rules
Making-of — Complete author
Kusturica · Kusturica · Darko Bajić
08 — Encounters
Filmed alongside, interviewed, befriended.
Emir Kusturica·Barry Levinson·Vittorio Storaro·Majid Majidi·Paulo Coelho·Johnny Depp·Faye Dunaway·Jerry Lewis·Ursula Andress·Henry Moore·Giorgio de Chirico·Eddy Grant·La Toya Jackson·Vlade Divac·Želimir Žilnik·Darko Bajić·Dragoš Kalajić·Zuko Džumhur
Including a Spanish-television portrait of Paulo Coelho, a BBC-broadcast documentary on Eddy Grant's millennium concert in Tobago, and conversations with four-time Oscar winner Barry Levinson and three-time Oscar-winning cinematographer Vittorio Storaro.
Polynesian Cultural Center, Hawaii
09 — Biography
A life, briefly.
Born 13 October 1941, Ivanjica.
Educated at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Belgrade.
Thirty years at Television Belgrade, rising to the rank of director before stepping into a freelance career that would carry him to all five continents.
Author of Panorama izvan rama (40 ten-minute travel reportages) and Vreme je da znate (90 three-minute travel pieces).
Awarded first prize at the FUJI competition for best documentary photograph and slogan, with further honours at international tourist-film festivals.
Profiled on Serbian national television in TV lica kao sav normalan svet by Tanja Peternek.