Pogačić's filmmaking career began in 1949 with "The Factory Story" (Serbo-Croat: "Priča o fabrici"), after which he went on to become one of the most prolific Yugoslav film authors of the 1950s. He directed several landmark films of Yugoslav cinema: "The Last Day" ("Poslednji dan", 1951), which is considered the first Yugoslav spy film; "Legends of Anika" ("Anikina vremena", 1954), a film based on Ivo Andrić's story, which was the first Yugoslav film distributed in the United States, and "Big and Small" ("Veliki i mali", 1956), which was the first Yugoslav feature film to win an international prize, as it won Pogačić the Best Director award at the 1957 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. In addition, his 1953 film "Perfidy" was screened at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival in the international competition program.