The icon of Spanish, American and French film, the actress who made a name for herself in films by David Lean, Carlos Saura and Robert Altman, the daughter of famous Charlie Chaplin, Geraldine Chaplin is arriving in Zagreb early in November as a special guest of the 16th Zagreb Film Festival (11-18 November).

A member of the famous multinational Chaplin acting dynasty, the first of Charlie Chaplin and Oona O’Neil’s children and the granddaughter of the Nobel Prize winner Eugene O’Neil, is a trained ballerina turned actress after a brief career in professional ballet in Paris. Her first film role came when she was a girl, in Charlie Chaplin’s Limelight (1952), but she was truly discovered by David Lean, who gave her the role of the doting wife Tonya in Doctor Zhivago (1965), which brought her a Golden Globe nomination for best new talent.

After a role in Peppermint Frappe (1967, a psychological thriller by the great Carlos Saura, she built a lasting partnership with him and starred in many of the films believed to be the finest titles of Spanish cinema (e.g. Ana and the Wolves, 1973, and Cria cuervos, 1976). In 2006 the Spanish Academy of Film Arts and Sciences awarded her with a Gold Medal for Contribution to Spanish Cinema.

Her most important titles include the mosaic film Nashville (1975) by Robert Altman, in which she portrays an unbearable BBC reporter, another Golden Globe nomination, this time for best supporting role, the romantic drama The Age of Innocence by Martin Scorsese (1993), Talk to Her (2002) by Pedro Almodovar, the horror drama The Orphanage (2007) directed by J. A. Bayona.

In the many interviews she gave while filming the biography Chaplin (1992) starring Robert Downey, in which she played her grandmother Hannah, Geraldine revealed that Charlie Chaplin was a strict father, not prone to humour in daily life, but as a critic he followed and supported her work.

At the official festival closing we will be watching Geraldine Chaplin in the bitter-sweet romantic comedy about love, friendship and motherhood, Anchor and Hope (2017), directed by Carlos Marques-Marcet (10000 km). the leading role of Eva, a girl getting ready to become a mother together with her female partner and their best friend, is played by Oona Chaplin, Geraldine’s daughter from her first marriage to the Chilean filmmaker Patricio Castilla, known to Game of Thrones fans a Talisa Maegyr.

Geraldine Chaplin splits her time between Miami, Madrid and Corsier-sur-vevey in Switzerland. This autumn she spent a few weeks in Croatia, filming Barefoot Emperor, a satire about Europe set in Brioni islands. This Belgian-Dutch-Croatian co-production was directed by Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth, known for Khadak, Altiplano and The King of Belgians, screened at previous ZFF editions. The Croatian co-producers are Lana Matić and Boris T. Matić of Propeler Film production company.