Ivanka Mežan, a long-standing member of the SNT Drama Ljubljana ensemble, is this year’s recipient of the Ita Rina Lifetime Achievement Award. It was presented to her at the Krafft Actors’ Film Festival in Kranj.
The Ita Rina Lifetime Achievement Award in Audiovisual Arts for Ivanka Mežan is a recognition of her 80-year acting career in cinema which includes 33 feature and short films and more than 50 television films, dramas and series, all bearing a mark of her acting skills and charisma.
The award is a testimony of Ivanka Mežan’s excellence and a tribute to her professionalism, her flawless ethics, her warmth and spirit – the qualities that have irradiated film screen and stirred in us the eternal questions of humanity, art, love and freedom.
Ivanka Mežan began her acting career as a seventeen-year-old partisan fighter. In 1944 she first threaded the boards of the Slovenian National Theatre in the liberated territory of Črnomelj. She appeared in plays by Vitomil Zupan, Matej Bor, Molière and Anton Tomaž Linhart. It was already in those early days that her unwavering faith in the existence of the Slovenian nation through art was evident. Nowhere in the world can any nation boast of having a working theatre in the midst of war. Slovenians can! Thanks also to Ivanka Mežan.
After returning from the partisan resistance fight, she enrolled at the Academy of Acting Arts in Ljubljana (today’s UL AGRFT). From 1945 until her retirement in 1979, she created more than a hundred roles on the stage of the Drama Ljubljana in plays by Slovenian and international authors. After her retirement, her acting zeal did not die out and she went on creating unforgettable roles in the works of Chekhov, Dostoyevsky, Pinter, Šeligo … She was widely admired in all Slovenian theatre houses. Her voice has enriched numerous radio plays and literary programmes.
Still, the true gem of Ivanka’s work is her film acting.
Who does not remember her role of Maruša in Blossoms in Autumn (1973) directed by Matjaž Klopčič? She inhabited our hearts then and stayed there ever since. With the role of Maruša, she entered the world of cinema in a self-confident way and since then her face and acting sensitivity have graced 33 Slovenian films. In addition to playing convincing protagonists in feature films and shorts, she has also created around 50 roles in television films, dramas and series, most recently in the TV series Inspector Vrenko’s Cases. The audience simply adores Ivanka Mežan.
Her other important film roles include Roza in A Flight of the Dead Bird (1973), Ana in Wasteland (1982), The Return, Farewell Until the Next War, The Tenth Brother, The Merry Wedding, Installation of Love, Panic, Where To, The Sweating of Sea Urchins, What Remains, Chasm, etc.
She enthralled us with her role of Shirley in Ljubljana the Beloved (2005), as Ivanka in A Girl and a Tree (2012), and in documentaries in which she has captivated us with her authentic personality: Mežanka, Mrs Ivanka, I Like Being Happy.
Ivanka’s role in Miha Knific’s film Perseverance ( 2015), winning the national Vesna Award for supporting actress, has left an indelible impression in my memory. What a poignant, heartbreaking accomplishment!
In addition to the Vesna Award, she has also received the Ljubljana Capital City Award, the Bert Film Award by the Slovenian Director’s Association, the Borštnik Ring for Lifetime Achievement, the Prešeren Fund Award, and the Sterija Award. Along with all the honourable and well-deserved awards, it must be said that Ivanka has the biggest admirers among the audience. She is simply – ours. This is an undeniable and important fact.
Despite her advanced age, Ivanka Mežan is young at heart. She remains a keen co-creator of Slovenian cinema, and she fits in perfectly with the younger generations of filmmakers. She has remained a curious, open-minded and attentive viewer who, by her very presence and goodwill, encourages film makers of all ages to persevere with courage, honesty and irresistible determination. Her vital longevity and sincerity are reassuring and an exemplary model to all.
She has contributed immensely to the national culture through her love of cinema and all forms of art as well as her positive impact on people. Her acting has graced the world of cinema with human warmth and unblemished ethical attitude.
During her remarkable career in the field of cinema, spanning 80 years, Ivanka Mežan has generated an invaluable asset for all people who have found a fellow human being in her acting and will continue to do so. She is a genuine artist who speaks the truth with heartfelt kindness, an artist who values freedom and has an unwavering faith in the power of art.
Dearest Ivanka, we filmmakers are immensely proud of you!

Jury statement written by Saša Pavček, Ljubljana, 24 May 2024