Emir Kusturica

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**Emir Kusturica**

Born:	November 24, 1954 Sarajevo, FPR Yugoslavia (now Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Occupation:	Film director and screenwriter

Emir Kusturica (Serbian Cyrillic: Емир Кустурица; IPA: ['ku.stu.ri.tsa]) (born November 24, 1954) is a Serbian filmmaker born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (former Yugoslavia). 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]

1 Life and work
2 Filmography
3 Awards
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Life and work

After graduating from the Film Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU) in 1978, Kusturica began directing Yugoslav television shows. 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. Both Do You Remember Dolly Bell? and When Father Was Away on Business were made in collaboration with Abdulah Sidran. In 1989, he 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 Times of the Gypsies, Arizona Dream (feat. Iggy Pop) and Underground.

Kusturica continued to make highly regarded films into the next decade, including his American debut, the absurdest comedy Arizona Dream (1993) and the Golden Palm-winning black comedic epic, Underground (1995).

Underground, scripted by Dušan Kovačević, was partly financed by state-owned Yugoslav television and created some controversy. The film detailed the history of Yugoslavia from the beginning of the second World War till the conflict in the 1990's. 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.

Above: Emir Kusturica shooting on the set of Super 8 Stories, Below: a scene from the film

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 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.

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 slash 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.

On Đurđevdan (St. George's Day) in 2005 Emir, was baptised into the Serb Orthodox Church as Nemanja Kusturica in Savina monastery near Herceg Novi.^[3]^[4] To his critics who considered that this was the final betrayal of his Muslim roots ^[3], 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."^[5]

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

He is also currently working on the film Promise Me This, which is anticipated to be released before the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

Emir Kusturica is the winner of the Philippe Rotthier European Architecture Award for his Küstendorf ethnic 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 and is one of the most prestigious Belgian and European awards in this field. 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.

[edit] Filmography

Promise Me This (Zavet), 2007 (filming)
Maradona, 2008, documentary
Life Is a Miracle (Život je čudo), 2004
Super 8 Stories, 2001, documentary
Black Cat, White Cat (Crna mačka, beli mačor), 1998
Underground, 1995
Arizona Dream, 1993
Time of the Gypsies (Dom za vešanje), 1988
When Father Was Away on Business (Otac na službenom putu), 1985
Do You Remember Dolly Bell? (Sjećaš li se, Dolly Bell), 1981
Guernica, 1978, short

[edit] Awards

1st prize on Student's Film Festival in Karlovy Vary, (1978) for Guernica
Golden Lion in Venice Film Festival, (1981) for Do You Remember Dolly Bell?
Golden palm Cannes Film Festival, (1985) for When Father Was Away on Business
FIPRESCI prize Cannes Film Festival, (1985) for When Father Was Away on Business
Best Foreign Language Academy Award Nomination, (1985) for When Father Was Away on Business
Best Director award at Cannes Film Festival, (1989) for Time of Gypsies
Silver Bear at Berlin Film Festival, (1993) for Arizona Dream
Golden Palm at Cannes Film Festival, (1995) for Underground
Silver Plate of best documentary at Chicago International Film Festival, (2001) for Super 8 Stories
Cinema Prize of the French Education System at Cannes Festival (2004) for Life is a Miracle
Best European Union Film at César Awards, (2005) for Life is a Miracle
Philippe Rotthier European Architecture Award, (2005) for Küstendorf village in Serbia