Vinko Brešan was born in Zagreb in 1964. He studied comparative literature and philosophy at the Faculty of Philosophy and film and TV directing at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb. His debut, low-budget, feature film How the War Started on My Island is, after Titanic, the most watched feature film in Croatian cinemas since 1990. His films Marshal and Witnesses were awarded at festivals in Berlin and Karlovy Vary, and his fourth feature film Will Not End Here won the FIPRESCI critics' award in Karlovy Vary. The film The The Priest's Children is the most watched Croatian film in the 21st century, nominated for an award of the European Film Academy. His sixth feature film What a Country! was seen in Croatian cinemas by more than 60,000 viewers, and was declared the best film at the Sopot Film Festival, becoming the first minority Serbian co-production to win at that festival. He also directs in the theater. His play „Scents, Gold and Incense“ was declared a cultural event of the Rijeka summer evenings in 2005. The plays „Pljuska“ by Nenad Stazić and „The play of Hamlet in the village of Mrduša Donja“ by Ivo Brešan directed by him were winners of the Days of Satire in Zagreb in 1999 and 2014. The performance „How the war on my island started“ by Ivo and Vinko Brešan won the Audience Award at the Marul Days in 2019. The TV series The Diary of the Great Perica, in which he is a co-writer and director, won „Heart of Sarajevo“ for the best TV Series in the comedy category and „Heart of Europe“ as the best TV series of Eastern Europe in 2021.
