(Exclusive Interview) EMIR KUSTURICA: Putin restores Serbian faith into ourselves, and I will place his rockets on my balcony!
In an exclusive interview for our portal, Emir Kusturica, the founder of "Kustendorf" movie festival, speaks plainly about omnipresent moral fall, reality shows, as well as about the cure for this "plague".
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The Professor explained what he meant when he said that Putin restores the historical memory of Serbs and he reveals where he is going to place Russian rockets when they are shipped to Serbia!
His name is his best advertisement.
We found the famous director and screenplay writer in the Ministry of Culture where he was, along with the Minister Ivan Tasovac, talking about his 9th movie festival "Kustendorf".
Capricious and witty, like always, Kusturica spoke bluntly, like always, about Russian rockets his movie festival, about moral fall which stems from starlets and reality shows, and also about the most effective cure for this plague.
By saying this he confirmed the gossips that he is the man who always dares to say what he thinks.
One of the methods in this fight is The 9th International Movie and Music Festival "Kustendorf" which is going to be held from January 22-27 at Mokra Gora.
This time there will be a new program called "Movie Decolonization" which will strengthen the list of 17 movies by young authors, as well as Jacques Odiar, Matteo Garrone, and Guy Jancke.
- "Movie Decolonization" is the project of my daughter Dunja Kusturica, and this will have movies that dissect the dominant narratives in the relations between upper and lower classes in un-colonial context of the western states - said Kusturica.
T: There are geese dominating on the official poster for this year's Kustendorf, and we often see them in your movies. Why is that?
- Geese are camarillas in my movies. They are spiteful animals, always ready to bite. They have their dignity and a drake never cheats on his wife.
T: Kustendorf Movie Festival has been trying for the last 9 years to keep Serbia mentally sane. What do you expect this year?
- I have to admit that Serbia is one of the few countries where a project such as this is possible. The power and authority of the movies I used to make and the titles I have helped a lot in this project, and I've put a great effort to, along with a group of people, make some things clear. My expectations are that this endeavor should be possible.
T: You said that you wanted to make some things clear. Which things?
- What are those things? You know, when you come to a barren hill, completely empty but with just a haystack destroyed by thunder, and then you make a village which is actually a portrait of the fight for the archetype. Those houses built there would definitely rot away in the next 30 years, and now they are restored and they will not be destroyed for at least 100 years. In a place like that, in an impeccable projection where you have motion and tone, young people are coming from all around the world and they feel pretty good. They have the chance to discuss with renowned authors and to get ideas for future projects. That is what I had in mind and there you can see who is who.
According to Emir's words, the best proof about "Kustendorf" is to be seen in the example of a Japanese author Koki Hasei.
He is a young director and was one of the laureates on the festival whose founder is Emir Kusturica, and this year he returns to the festival with the world prizes for his first movie.
- Koki made his first long-play movie and he showed it at "Kustendorf". He got lucky and now he made an excellent and important movie, and he got his first recognition here at the festival and thus saw the light of the day.
T: Serbia has become obsessed with reality shows, starlets, and people without real occupation. What is your comment on that?
- "Kustendorf" is the antithesis for this kind of behavior, but we could not do anything if we did not have the help from the state. Serbia always has its segments of helping us, and this place is becoming a haven where people are more important than billboards. You see the general wish to turn contemporary man into a billboard, because if you are not up there, it is like you do not exist. I grew up in the time where modesty was a virtue, not a flaw. You can see instructional manuals today for the young girls how to become models, and when literature is brought as a subject, or writers, they all wave their hands, they despise ideas like Justice and Truth and they do not take them into consideration.
T: How can we find a cure for this moral abyss?
- As long as we have people and ideas, they will stand as the antithesis to this chasm. Matija Bećković said: The bigger the nation, the lesser nationalism; the smaller the nation, the bigger the nationalism". There is an idea about oneself, but that should not be attached to nationalism. You have to develop an idea to be a leading one for you and other people.
T: When will you finish the movie "On the Milky Way", where Monica Bellucci plays one of the lead roles?
- The movie is ready, it has been edited, we still have 10 more days of shooting in the studio. It will be ready for the Cannes festival.
T: You said to Vladimir Putin to install his rockets in your backyard; are they really going to be placed there?
- When I was in Russia I mentioned something about rockets. I would like to place them and make them a part of the performance at "Kustendorf", along with the geese. But my wife insists on having them on our balcony in Belgrade. Things are complicate right now because one side of the balcony is still not legalized. We will think of something.
T: You said once that Vladimir Putin restores the historical memory of Serbs, what did you mean by that?
- I meant the ideas of individuality and oneself. We are a small nation but we have many fine individuals, and that is the case with Serbia also. I watched the water polo game with Croats and I was glad not because we were playing against them but because our boys were the best in the world. When you think of sport, there is not an activity where we are not present, the same in art. You have the new Vladimir Kecmanović novel "Osama" which has reached the great literary lengths of Europe. I can say that because I follow the European trends. Now when you start listing all the great writers Serbia had you would get confused and think you are somewhere in France or England. We have our fields where we are the best, and Putin is restoring the faith into ourselves, to a better Serbia.
T: What were you discussing with Vladimir Putin?
- Most of all about the media coverage of the world events, economic sanctions, atrocities of western politics, our mutual friends, Nikita Mihalkov, but also about the fight against Jihad in which he intends to persevere.
T: Are you satisfied about the amount of help you get from the state when talking about "Kustendorf"?
- The Ministry of Culture and Information is working alongside on this project, and the Minister Tasovac will open the festival this year also. "Kustendorf" has been going on for the last 9 years and there have been 7 Ministers in the meantime. This is the third time that Minister Tasovac will open and close the festival which makes him the only one who managed to do that. If we are worthy, things like that should happen. We gather kids from all over the world, we place them in a village which is actually a Neverland, and I sincerely think that we can place the sign of cultural institution on this place. This serves as Serbia's honor, it is not just important who created it.
- It is better if Johnny Depp comes to Serbia, than not. This also goes for the Darden brothers, and Jim Jarmusch. There is a strong tendency of measuring everything through profit, but there are things like interest of the state where money loses its value. We have brought several reports stating that money invested in "Kustendorf" has paid itself.
T: When we are talking about media coverage, we had the chance to read that in the last 9 years Serbian NGO received 35 million dollars. What is your comment on that?
- I saw those figures like we all did when they were published. When talking about NGO sector, those organizations were trying to prove that we are unworthy and that we are bad, but it has been constantly shown that it is vice versa.
T: Your love towards music is well-known, and your playing with the No Smoking Orchestra. What do you listen to privately?
- Privately, I listen to nothing. Dunja sometimes plays some music for me on the headphones, and I usually criticize it.
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