Matija Ferlin

dancer, performer, choreographer and director

Matija Ferlin Jelena Janković

Matija Ferlin is a Croatian theatre director, ensemble dance piece choreographer and performer of his own one-man shows. Graduated from the School for New Dance Development in Amsterdam and subsequently lived and worked in Berlin and Toronto. After returning to his hometown Pula, where he was born in 1982, he focused on researching and rearticulating different concepts of stage performance, collaborating both with actors and dancers.

The multiple award winning Ferlin presented and performed his own work throughout Europe and America at numerous festivals such as Impulstanz in Vienna, Festival Trans Amerique in Montreal, Young Lions and Gibanica in Ljubljana, Ex-Yu festival in New York, Rhubarb Festival in Toronto, Uovo Festival in Milano, Kunstenfestivaldesartes in Brussels, Festival Infant in Novi Sad, Bitef festival in Belgrade, Mess festival in Sarajevo, Festival Actoral in Marseille, Zero point in Prague and many others.

His work includes: 

stage performances
Sad Sam Revisited, 2005
Drugo za jedno, 2007
Sad Sam Almost 6, 2009
The Most Together We’ve ever Been, 2009 (in collaboration with Ame Henderson), 2009
Onformance, 2010
Lonly women, 2011
Sad Sam Lucky, 2012
Solitaires, 2011
The Other At The Same Time, 2012
Sudents of harmony, 2015
We Are Kings Not Humans, 2015
Out of Season, 2015 (in collaboration with Ame Henderson);
Staging a Play: The Glass Menagerie, 2015
In the eyes (in collaboration with Roberta Milevoj & Zrinka Užbinec), 2016
Staging a Play: Tartuffe, 2017
Vladimir Nazor’s Water 2018
Staging a Play: Antigone, 2018
Real comedy, 2019
That Emerging Place, 2019
Sad Sam Matthäus, 2021
Students of Insistence, 2022

exhibitions 
SaD SaM Display, 2004 – PSWR, Amsterdam, NL
Lucky Is The Lion That the Human Will Eat, 2006 – FPNK Svetvincenti, HR
Pozdravite svoje doma!, 2007 - Rigo, Novigrad, HR
Beauty Unrealised, 2007- PSWR, Amsterdam, NL
Differ & Repeat, 2011 - The Place, London, GB

short movies 
4:48, 2003
Rework At The Freezing Point, 2004
VUK Vorbild Und Kampf, 2006
Iznad Oblaka by Nola, 2009
Automatic Disco by Dogma, 2010
Be Alone by Chweger, 2012
Htio bi da me voliš by Pips, Chips and Videoclips, 2013

He has worked with choreographers, directors, photographers such as:

Mateja Koležnik,
Maja Delak & Luka Prinčič (Transmittance#1, #2, #2.1, Folding Margins),
Ivica Buljan (Madame de Sade, Jackie, 2008),
Maja Delak (Serata Artistica Giovanile, 2008; Rodeo, 2007),
Ame Henderson (Blue Disco, 2003; Manual For Incidence, 2005; Dance/Songs, 2006; Relay, 2010)
Sasha Waltz (Gezeiten, 2005; Radial Dialogue, 2006)
Keren Levi (Territory, 2005),
Martin Butler (Luka & The Last Celebrity, 2003; Phoenix, 2005;
David Zambrano (The Rabbit Project, 2003),
Karsten Liske (Historia, 2006),
Christophe Chemin (Minor2:Salut, 2007),
Heinz Peter Knes (Lucky Is The Lion That The Human Will Eat, 2006)
Mauricio Ferlin (Tepli Zdrhi, 2001; Rodeo, 2007 and several music videoclips).

Awards

2010: Croatian Theatre Award (for Nastup / Onformance in categories: best choreography, best contemporary dance performance, best female role - Roberta Milivoj) 
2012: Teatar.hr Award, selected by the audience (best director/choreographer)  
2013: Ksenija Hribar Award by Slovenian Contemporary Dance Association, Gibanica/Moving Cake 2013 (best choreographer)
2013: Award for Sad Sam Lucky at the International Festival of Alternative and New Theatre INFANT, Novi Sad (RS) 
2015: Special Jury Award "Jovan Ćirilov" Bitef Festival - We are kings not humans
2015: Audience Award Teatar.hr / Best Director - Choreographer of the season 2014/2015
2017: Best Performance Award selected by the jury Staging a play: The Glass menagerie at Gibanica, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
2022: Award for Sad Sam Matthäus from The Association of Theatre Critics and Researchers of Slovenia for the best performance in the past season
2022: Croatian Theatre Award for the best performance as a whole in the field of dance (for the performance Sad Sam Matthäus)
2022: Croatian Theatre Award for the best male role in the field of dance in the performance Sad Sam Matthäus

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