Nikola Stojanović was born on May 4, 1942, in Dušanovo near Leskovac, Serbia. He graduated Architecture in Sarajevo, where he started making films at the age of 22. He directed several short films as a member of amateur film club "Sarajevo" in the nineteen sixties, winning awards at film contests. He started working professionally in 1968 when he directed the 35 mm short "In The Kitchen" - a movie made in one static shot. He wrote and directed feature lenght dramatic film "Dear Irena" in 1970. He continued working as a filmmaker and has directed five features, around thirty short films, two TV movies and many TV documentaries. He also wrote about film in many magazines and publications and was founder and editor-in-chief of movie magazine "Sineast" from 1967 until 1992. He was a professor at Belgrade's Faculty of dramatic arts, Novi Sad's Academy of Arts and Sarajevo's Academy. His Doctoral thesis was published as a book "Directed by Akira Kurosava". He is the recipient of Life Achievement Award of Martovski festival in 2002. He died in Belgrade on January 4, 2021. His son Srđan Stojanović is also a film director who made a feature lenght documentary about his father titled "Rebel With A Cause: Nikola Stojanović (1942 - 2021)"