By Petra Antolić
Photos courtesy of Majestic Film
The team at Majestic Film have wrapped up their eleventh campaign at Cannes and according to the company’s CEO and renowned international film Producer, Director, Writer Steve Ravić “It has been the best to date”.
Billich 90, the second documentary Directed and Produced by Steve Ravić (the first being Billich: Beyond The Canvas) culminated from a five-year journey after completing the first documentary. Filled with passion, mystery, intrigue and danger in an unrelenting effort to tell the compelling story of artist extraordinaire Charles Billich, Billich 90 symbolically premiered at Cannes on May 15, 2025.
Billich called it the “proudest moment of my career”
Steve Ravic specifically requested this day and it was granted for the premiere of Billich 90 to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the Bleiburg tragedy where hundreds of thousands of Croatians were exterminated by dictator Tito and his communist Yugoslavia. Ravić stated “Not only must this tragedy not be forgotten, but the perpetrators must be held accountable through truthful historic records”. In the 1990’s, Billich, an advocate for story of Bleiburg to be told, completed a six-metre-long painting depicting the tragedy on three 2×2 metre panels and it was exhibited at the United Nations in New York. Billich called it the “proudest moment of my career”.
On the documentary, Billich reminisces over the trauma he suffered as a child witnessing the genocide committed by the Yugoslav communist partisans against his people during the occupation of Croatia. The film also exposes the biggest art heist of modern times where Billich lost possession of a wealth of works to the local authorities in his birthplace of Lovran. The documentary celebrating 90 years of Billich “drew strong attention from the audience and both investors and distributors were immediately drawn to the idea of a biopic movie for which Ravić has written a script” says co-producer Vesna Trokter.
She adds “We flew to London immediately after Cannes for two days of gruelling talks after back-to-back meetings and socializing with many from the industry at Cannes. The offers are now on the table. Steve has also been corresponding with veteran American distributors and agents who plan to travel to Croatia to meet with us.
I have to say the audience was intrigued by the enthralling story also emotionally narrated by Steve. The audience was genuinely touched and during the post screening Q and A, there was a lovely woman from the United States that was herself brought to tears by the film, congratulating Steve to which he visibly choked back tears to respond how relieved he was to finally be able to tell the tragic story of the Croatian people through Billich. Ravić and Billich are both in absolute sync with each other and united in their mission to tell the truth.”
On the documentary, Billich states “Steve Ravić is a miracle maker. If there’s anyone in the world that can do it, it’s him. He understands me backwards. We have a great empathy”.
Croatia’s most popular singer Marko Perković Thompson also weighs in on the documentary commending Billich and emphasizing how Billich “felt the suffering of the Croatian people on his own shoulders”.
Although Ravić together with his company Majestic Film financed both documentaries and altogether six years of research into the Billich story, Ravić acknowledged his supporters. “Originally, I planned to finish research and a documentary in one year and scriptwriting with additional research for another year. Then came the covid lockdowns amidst the discovery of the whereabouts of Billich’s stolen art. The deeper I dug, the more was revealed and Billich kept encouraging me to keep digging and one year suddenly became five years of being entangled in a web of mystery. I was very proud to see my work acknowledged in Parliament House with a Senate speech by Senator Hollie Hughes relating to my investigations into the Billich matter.
However, I did not expect it to be as arduous as it was and I’m very grateful to friends like Ilija Raguž and Dario and Davorka Marenić whose additional support helped us in realizing the completion of this part of the journey. The script is now ready and our project development for the biopic My Way is now complete. We now just need to secure partners for the movie production and the final cast and we are ready to go”.
Not overshadowing the exciting expansions and new productions ahead, My Way is set to be an integral part of the Majestic Film slate alongside the announcement of their new initiative to support Croatian content film in collaboration with SP Production from Tomislavgrad. This initiative includes future collaboration on film projects and helping historic Croatian content story tellers boost their prospects by providing a platform for them to be showcased at the world’s major film events like the Cannes Film Festival in France and the American Film Market in Los Angeles, USA.
Majestic Film secured the premiere of Diva at the official Cannes Film Festival Marché Du Film”
Ravić first tested the waters with a Croatian story telling initiative last year by inviting Branko Perić to promote his first feature film Hajduk (Rebel) and Diva which was at the time in the primary stages of production. Ravić stated “I was motivated to do this out of frustration because I had spent many years encouraging Croatian Government departments to invest more in supporting historic Croatian stories when I spoke at conferences and participated in public panel discussions.
Sadly, my efforts fell on deaf ears and after years of lobbying, rather than complaining about to lack of action, I decided not to just talk the talk, but walk the walk so I dedicated part of my Majestic Film stand inside of the Palais to promoting Croatian stories”.
This was obviously a unique venture because Majestic Film is an Australian film production company now with a branch promoting Croatian content.
Cannes Film Festival is renowned for celebrating individual countries with the Village International outside of the Palais des Festival along the Riviera. This is where individual countries are proudly presenting their national flags and representing their content.
Ravić goes on to explain that “unlike practically every other country’s presentation, Croatia is merged with other republics that were collectively under the Yugoslav regime to form a South-East European pavilion adding Bulgaria and Cyprus to the mix with the exclusion of Kosovo. As part of the presentations, there was absolutely no emphasis on historic Croatian content but rather an essence of Yugo-nostalgia. I was extremely disheartened by the lack of representation.
So last year I promised Perić that if he completed Diva to which we would also provide added support, Majestic Film would secure the premiere of Diva at the official Cannes Film Festival Marché Du Film”.
Ravić continued that “some countries have multiple stands like Japan who are represented inside of the Palais des Festival also. This helped encourage me to do the same by allocating half of our stand to Croatian stories and organising premieres of Croatian content films at Cannes and this year we did host a special test screening of Perić’s feature film Diva on May 17 where we also showcased the SP Production from Tomislavgrad in Hercegovina, now a part of the modern-day Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Ravić’s paternal roots are from the Hercegovina region and his father Radoslav is from a village called Buhovo (Bovo) in Široki Brijeg. Ravić adds “These historic Croatian lands were once part of the Kingdom of Croatia where the first Croatian King was crowned 1,100 years ago in 925, hence the name Tomislavgrad (Tomislav City) to bring clarity to our audiences. My mother on the other hand is from the region of Slavonia in the east of the Republic of Croatia.
As an Australian born Croatian, I do have to acknowledge that the Department for ‘Croats Living Abroad’ and Member of Parliament Zvonko Milas’ office has expressed interest in our initiatives and we do hope to collaborate with our future endeavours by starting an arts organisation and network for the diaspora”.
The compelling story of Hercegovina’s Diva has been labelled a revenge thriller at Cannes drawing particular attention from film festivals from all over the world. Discussions are underway for screenings in Australia and the United States and offers have been made from festivals in Bangladesh and Costa Rica to name but a few. Ravić stated that “we are currently negotiating with sales agents and while the negotiations are taking place, the post-production will undergo some internationally friendly changes which will include narration in the English language and the inclusion of some additional scenes.”
Mara Perić who wrote the screenplay for Diva said “I was overly impressed by the articulation and emotional drive of Steve’s narration on the Billich 90 documentary and both Branko and I have asked Steve to be the narrator for the international version of Diva. The premiere of the final version of Diva will take place in Mostar on September 18.
A new historic Croatian content film to be based on the true story of Queen Katarina
News of the ever-growing Perić film dynasty came in the form of a special announcement at Cannes where Ravić stated “I am very proud to announce that development is already underway for Katarina, a new historic Croatian content film to be based on the true story of Queen Katarina. The screenplay for Katarina is being written by Mara Perić and will be directed by Branko Perić which will make Katarina the third feature project from the creative team that brought you Hajduk (Rebel) and Diva. Katarina promises to be an epic production for which we are now seeking partners and the next year will be dedicated to presenting the case for such a significant historic story.”
When asked about Katarina, Perić said “I have every intention to entertain the idea of extending the film into a series” to which Ravić added “with an epic story like that of Queen Katarina, a female heroine and such spectacular scenery in Croatia proven by the likes ‘Game of Thrones’ and the spectacular scenery in places Hercegovina and Bosna where most of the story is based, I would certainly encourage potential international partners to reach out to us.”
Whispers have also been circulating that Steve Ravić has been collaborating on projects with superstar Croatian vocalist Marko Perković Thompson whose music appears on both Billich 90 and Diva. The now infamous photograph being used for the promotion of Thompson’s world record breaking concert which has sold over 500,000 tickets is by none other than Steve Ravić himself. Steve elaborated “It’s a cool feeling to know that my photo is the visual show piece for the world record shattering concert. It’s being published everywhere. In regards to the whispers, as Marko Perković’s international spokesperson and a loyal friend, it is safe to assume that we are collaborating on projects, but the announcements will come in good time.”
In other news, Steve Ravić’s ‘Hotel Underground’ action / thriller / horror secured a worldwide release through horror/action movie powerhouse ITN Distribution from Las Vegas. Already being released by ITN in North and South America, CEO of ITN Stu Alson was eager to secure worldwide rights delivered the news to Steve Ravic at Cannes after long standing negotiations with sales agents House of Film. Ravić stated “I am really happy that worldwide rights are being picked up by Stu Alson and ITN. It’s the perfect match for the film I visualized making since I was a teenager going to a Catholic school (Catholic Regional College) in the western suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. It comprises of everything that I loved as a young teen and still do. Packed with wrestling and fight scenes, splashes of horror and polished off with some Heavy Metal music with a touch of inspiration from the original classic 80’s Australian tv series about a women’s prison called Prisoner (also known as around the world as Cell Block H).”
In the meantime, people in the North and South America can watch it on platforms such as Amazon Prime and Tubi. It is also currently available in Australia through Vimeo on VHX. https://majesticfilmentertainment.vhx.tv/products/hotel-underground (Australia only)
It was yet another majestic moment at Cannes but Ravić admits “there was a time where the excitement turned into an annual obligation that I needed to fulfil for the company. But the dust has settled in recent times and now it’s like a family reunion that we are all sad to leave.
A last drink at the Cristal Bar with my bro Carlos Rincon, President of Prestige International where we reflect on all the good times and where we all honour the memory of our now deceased film business colleague and dear friend Matt McCombs turned into saying goodbye five times over. The same with the SP Production team as we bid farewell to the newest members of our film family. Branko and his team consisting of his film family Mara and Jure were evidently emotional as well. I could see that Branko found his place. He is now a part of our extended Cannes family as is Will Knochel of Vital / Prestige who was so emotionally touched by Billich’s Atlanta cityscape. New friendships and alliances were being forged and the energy that Cannes brought in 2025 was truly special.”
For Branko Perić, watching all of this take place was a surreal moment. He said “I have no words. Just emotions, emotions, this when I look back at it, it was the best eight days of my life.”
There was a majestic shine at Cannes in 2025
Majestic Film’s Cannes ended with the grand red carpet walk and putting aside his own film projects and collaborations, Ravić said “the French movie 13 Days, 13 Nights was the best film I have seen at Cannes to date. I was touched. It has set a pinnacle for what I want to achieve with the Billich biopic My Way. Truly captivating emotionally driven mastery. 10 out of 10.”
On the back of Cannes 2025, the excitement is building around Majestic Film with a number of projects soon to be released and a very interesting slate of future productions. There was a majestic shine at Cannes in 2025.
See related story: Majestic film celebrates 90 years of Billich at Cannes
Billich 90 trailer: https://vimeo.com/1081444783
Diva trailer: https://youtu.be/u08yB0D9u3Y?si=f1QJm-etiFQ6-3HA