Zagreb-based Lute Productions has authored Croatia’s first Blu-ray title with domestic content, Croatian Undersea 4, a project comprised of six 30-minute episodes shot in six locations in the Croatian Adriatic and dubbed in six languages plus a "no narration" audio option.

The Croatian Undersea is a popular Croatian documentary series, and after releasing all four seasons on DVD, the client decided to release Season 4 in Blu-ray. The title was replicated by Sony DADC in Austria.

Lute Productions was set up by Tom Mihalic in 2000. It encoded and authored the first DVD in Croatia in 2002 – a documentary about a national painter, the late Edo Murtic. To date, the company has produced over 400 DVD titles, mostly concerts, feature films and some documentaries, for clients in Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia.

Lute Productions is one of the few authoring facilities in Europe to whom the BBC turned to for producing the local releases of its famed programmes The Blue Planet, Walking With the Dinosaurs and Walking With the Beasts.

“It’s really tough for us little ones to compete with the big guys out there,” sighs Mihalic, 53, who has a colourful history. He started translating American and English literature at the age of 17. In 1986, he became a member of Croatian Literary Writers Association, and two years later a member of Croatian Freelance Artists Association (two terms President, 2000-2003).

“Since you can't live of literature, in the mid-1980’s I started translating motion pictures, for theatrical and video release,” Mihalic tells DVD Intelligence. To date, he has translated over two thousands movies for theatrical, video, DVD and TV release, both subtitling and dubbing. At present, he also translates for the theatrical releases of the local UIP, SKG Dreamworks, Warner Bros. and Paramount licensees.

Back in 1987, Mihalic was one of the founders of Jadran Film's Video Department, a Warner Bros. licensee for ex-Yugoslavia, and worked with them for 10 years before going his own way. He originally set up Lutnja produkcija in 2000 to produce a feature film, but the project never went beyond the development stage for lack of money.

“We are currently trying to cope with the recession which kicked in quite severely in Croatia. Almost nothing has been released for the last 4-5 months,” says Mihalic. “I did my last DVD in October last year. Everything here came to a stop. A lot of announced projects have been cancelled waiting for better times.”

“On top of that, a huge problem is software and video piracy,” Mihalic complains. “Many so-called video studios utilise ripped authoring software. It creates an unfortunate competition in the region. These studios offer dirt cheap rates, a luxury I can't afford with the price tags of licenses necessary for this kind of job. Sadly, due to the recession, the government turns a blind eye.”

Mihalic prides himself on the range of equipment much bigger studios do not have. “I invest back into my business practically everything penny I earn.”

Story filed 09.03.10