The Tin Ujević Croatian Community of Belgrade presented the film Ilija Okrugić – Homeland, Sweet Caress and the “Paths of Ban Jelačić” exhibition. Stipe Ercegović, president of the Tin Ujević association, welcomed everyone to the Zlatna Vrata movie theatre while the head of the Split branch office of the CHF opened the exhibition.
The Tin Ujević Croatian Community of Belgrade presented the film Ilija Okrugić – Homeland, Sweet Caress and the “Paths of Ban Jelačić” exhibition in Split. The event was hosted by the Split branch office of the CHF and the Picigin Bačvice Ecological Association. 
Also shown was the first in a series of documentaries on the Famous Croatians of Vojvodina and Serbia directed by Stipe Ercegović.
Ilija Okrugić-Srijemac was one of the writers associated with the literary circle focused on bishop J. J. Strossmayer. He was the first priest to be ordained as a bishop by Strossmayer, in 1850. His major undertaking was the construction, renovation and furnishing of the church of Our Lady of Snow in Tekije near Petrovaradin. Okrugić was a writer and poet – author of the poems Za jedan časak radosti (For a Moment of Joy), Milkina kuća na kraju (Milka’s House at the End) and Lijepo ti je u našem Srijemu (It’s Nice in Our Srijem). He is, however, better known for his melodrama Šokica, which played in the theatres of Novi Sad, Subotica and Osijek for a full fifty years. It was also performed at the Croatian National Theatre in Split, when Blaženka Katalinić played the lead role of Janja.
The protagonists of the film about Ilija Okrugić are the well-known actors Saša Alač and Aljoša Vučković, whom we have seen on Croatian Television recently in the rerun of the series Velo misto (“Bigsville”), and Ivana Gudelj, a young actress with the Croatian National Theatre in Osijek, joined by narrator Žarko Radić, the current director of the Drama department of the Croatian National Theatre in Split.
The premiere in Split was well received, and Stipe Ercegović received many congratulations and much praise.
Two exceptional culture events took place that evening. Along with the film screening there was the “Paths of Ban Jelačić” exhibition featuring the work of painter Dragan Rumenčić of Zemun, a member of ULUPUDS (the Association of Applied Arts Artists and Designers of Serbia) and a caricaturist with Jež magazine. He is the recipient of many international awards for painting and caricature.
Rumenčić (https://www.facebook.com/slikar.draganrumencic) has dedicated some twenty aquarelles to the mid-19th century cities of Zagreb, Osijek, Budapest, Vienna and Petrovaradin – where the house Jelačić was born in still stands. The series closes with a painting of the family tomb and chapel in Zaprešić. 
Music was provided by the Klapa Marjan women’s a cappella band and the men’s Klapa Filip Dević, with a surprise premiere performance of a new Goran Karan song. 
On hand for the event were Split picigin players and Hajduk football club veterans, who have been guests of the Tin Ujević Croatian Community of Belgrade on three previous occasions.
Learn more about film director Ercegović: http://www.slobodnadalmacija.hr/Spektar/tabid/94/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/194631/Default.aspx
Text by: Branka Bezić Filipović