Emir Kusturica

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Emir Kusturica
Image:Emir Kusturica Bruxelles05.jpg
BornDecember 24 1954 (1954-12-24) (age 54)
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (then Yugoslavia)
OccupationFilm director and screenwriter

Emir Kusturica (Serbian Cyrillic: Емир Кустурица; IPA: [ˈku.stu.ri.tsa]) (born November 24, 1954 in Sarajevo) is a Serbian filmmaker and actor.

With an impressive string of internationally acclaimed features, Kusturica is seen as one of the most creative directors in cinema during the 1980s and '90s. As well as being one of the few directors to win the Palme d'Or at Cannes twice (for When Father Was Away on Business and Underground), he is also a recipient of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.[1][2]

Contents

[edit] Life and work

[edit] Early period

After graduating from the Film Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU) in 1978, Kusturica began directing made-for-TV television shorts in Yugoslavia. He made an auspicious feature-film debut in 1981 with Do You Remember Dolly Bell?, which won the prestigious Golden Lion at that year's Venice Film Festival. From 1981 to 1988 he was a lecturer at the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo (Akademija scenskih umjetnosti) and art director of Open Stage Obala (Otvorena scena Obala).

His second feature film, When Father Was Away on Business (1985), earned a Palme d'Or at Cannes, five Yugoslavian Oscar equivalents, and was nominated for an American Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. He wrote the screenplays for both Do You Remember Dolly Bell? and When Father Was Away on Business in collaboration with Abdulah Sidran. In 1989, Kusturica earned even more accolades for Time of the Gypsies, a penetrating but magical look into gypsy culture and the exploitation of their youth.

In 1986-1988 Kusturica played bass guitar in Zabranjeno pušenje, a rock band from Sarajevo.

Famous musician Goran Bregović created music for several Kusturica's films, including Time of the Gypsies, Arizona Dream (feat. Iggy Pop) and Underground.

[edit] 1990s

Kusturica continued to make highly regarded films into the next decade, including his American debut, the absurdist comedy Arizona Dream (1993) and the Palme d'Or-winning black comedic epic, Underground (1995).

Underground, scripted by Dušan Kovačević, was partly financed by state-owned Radio Television of Serbia, and created some controversy. Adding to the controversy was the fact that rented Yugoslav army equipment appeared in the film.[3] The film detailed the history of Yugoslavia from the beginning of the second World War till the conflict in the 1990s. While some critics claimed Kusturica propagated a pro-Serbian view of the Yugoslav conflict (including animosities during WWII), others held the opinion that his ironic characterizations of Balkan ethnic groups were equally caustic to all. During this time he also made comments defending Slobodan Milosevic and attacking western media as the cause of the war.[4] This movie, his move to Serbia, and his choice to identify himself as a Serb cause many people in Bosnia to feel that he betrayed his birthplace and so his films are noticeably absent from the Sarajevo Film Festival. He currently supports the nationalist Democratic Party of Serbia.[5] In 1998, he won the Venice Film Festival's Silver Lion for Best Direction for Black Cat, White Cat, an outrageous, farcical comedy set in a Gypsy (Romany) settlement on the banks of the Danube. The music for the film was composed by Belgrade-based band No Smoking Orchestra, formed by Zabranjeno Pušenje vocalist Nele Karajlić. In 1999 they recorded a new album, Unza Unza Time, produced by the Universal record company, as well as a music video, directed by Emir Kusturica. The band continued touring around the world under the name Emir Kusturica & No Smoking Orchestra, though he played a rather minor musical role in the band.

[edit] Recent life and work

In The Widow of St. Pierre 2000, a movie by director Patrice Leconte, Kusturica, here in his first appearance as an actor, has little in the way of lines, but his eyes and body language speak volumes.

In 2001, Kusturica directed Super 8 Stories. This is a documentary road and concert movie. It's full of inside material, 'read between the lines' nuances and small pleasures offering also a breathless and exhilarating behind-the-scenes look.

In 2002, The Good Thief, directed by Neil Jordan, Emir Kusturica appears as an electric guitar player/security specialist who constantly plays Jimi Hendrix riffs.

In 2004, The Prix de l'Education nationale (National Education Prize) honored Emir Kusturica and his film Život je čudo (Life is a Miracle). Life is a Miracle will be considered a national educational tool, complete with an instructional CD-ROM intended to facilitate analysis and debate among film students.

His documentary film, Maradona about the Argentine football player is currently in post production and is expected be released in 2008.

His newest film is Promise Me This, which premeried at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

Emir Kusturica is the winner of the Philippe Rotthier European Architecture Award for his Küstendorfethnic village project (also called Drvengrad - a “wooden town”) on Mt. Zlatibor, Serbia, in 2005. The prize is awarded every three years by the Brussels Foundation for Architecture. He was President of the Jury of the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.

On February 10, 2007, Kusturica received Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France's highest order in recognition of significant contribution to the arts.

In 2007 Kusturica prepared a punk opera, Times of the Gipsies. The premiere took place in June 2007 at the Opéra Bastille in Paris.

In July 2007, Kusturica directed the accompanying music video to Manu Chao's single "Rainin In Paradize", from the latter's forthcoming album.

In mid December 2007, Kusturica announced the formation of Kustendorf Film Festival.[1] Its first instalment will be held at Kusutrica's village from January 14 to January 21, 2008.

[edit] Music

Emir Kusturica is involved with the musical group The No Smoking Orchestra. Their website and more information can be found at [2].

[edit] Religion and identity

On Đurđevdan (St. George's Day) in 2005 Emir was baptised into the Serb Orthodox Church as Nemanja Kusturica (Немања Кустурица) in Savina monastery near Herceg Novi, Montenegro.[6][7] To his critics who considered that this was the final betrayal of his Muslim roots [6], he replied that: "My father was an atheist and he always described himself as a Serb. OK, maybe we were Muslim for 250 years, but we were Orthodox before that and deep down we were always Serbs, religion cannot change that. We only became Muslims to survive the Turks."[8]


In 2007 he supported Serbian campaign Solidarity - Kosovo is Serbia, a campaign against the independence of Serbian province of Kosovo.[9]

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Awards

[edit] References

  • Irodanova, Dina: Emir Kusturica. London. British Film Institute 2002.
  • Imsirevic, Almir: "Based on a Truth Story", Sarajevo, 2007.
  1. ^ Politika
  2. ^ Ministere de la culture
  3. ^ The many lives of Emir Kusturica
  4. ^ Canned Lies
  5. ^ (Reuters) - Film director Emir Kusturica attends the final pre-elections rally of Democratic Party of Serbia in Belgrade January 17, 2007.
  6. ^ a b Article about Kusturica's religion on pionirovglasnik.com
  7. ^ News of Kusturica's baptism on passagen.se
  8. ^ An interview for Guardian
  9. ^ Radio Slobodna Evropa article

[edit] External links

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Emir Kusturica
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Films by Emir Kusturica
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DATE OF BIRTH 1954-12-24
PLACE OF BIRTH Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (then Yugoslavia)
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
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