The documentary film 80 years of Radio Dubrovnik, directed by Vedran Benić, will be screened tomorrow, 5 August at the Slavica Open-air cinema at 9.30 p.m. Entrance is free.

Eight decades ago, from a speaker high on the statue of Orlando in the Sponza palace, the then-State Radio Dubrovnik, which eventually became just Radio Dubrovnik, started broadcasting. After Radio Zagreb, it is the second oldest radio station in Croatia, and since its formation in 1942, the Radio has kept alive a rich tradition of creativity, journalistic professionalism and skill, and it lives continuously on with its listeners, bearing witness to regional changes – states that arose and disappeared, wars, and better as well as the less fortunate periods of media freedom. Today, it directly broadcasts important events and produces other media content, some of it breakthrough in the field of journalism, always keeping up with contemporary radio practices while nurturing established media experiences confirmed by the listeners, everything which gives it a special and different colour, smell, breath of the Croatian south, everything which makes it one of the most listened to radio stations in the entire region. In addition to its informative programing, Radio Dubrovnik continues to pay great deal of attention to all areas of culture, often publishing fitting recordings, thanks to which numerous concerts and other events at the Dubrovnik Summer Festival have been preserved in the Radio’s rich archive.

Interviews and archival footage under the direction of the doyen of Dubrovnik and Croatian journalism Vedran Benić tell about the deep mark Radio Dubrovnik left on the City and its inhabitants. Vedran Benić was born in 1951 in Dubrovnik. He started working as a journalist at Radio Dubrovnik, and from 1987 in the regional Dubrovnik studio of the Croatian Radio and Televison, where he was editor and manager until his retirement. He authored some 20 documentaries, a number of non-fiction works and several books. He won the Zlatno pero (Golden Pen) Award of the Croatian Journalists' Association in 1993, and the City of Dubrovnik Award in 2013 for his long-term journalistic contributions to the promotion of the City.

The documentary film 80 years of Radio Dubrovnik premiered on 9 April 2022 at the Marin Držić Theatre.

Photo (c) HRT