Emir Kusturica - film director, composer, prose writer. Biography, creativity

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Emir Kusturica is one of the few modern independent filmmakers who balance on the verge of mainstream and underground. His paintings delight both critics and audiences. If you have seen at least one film by Kusturza, you will surely agree that his works are a fascinating journey that opens up the whole world of Balkan culture, which has everything - happiness, fun, and sorrow. As a director, Emir Kusturica is very famous today. His best films are known and loved far beyond his native country. However, Kusturica considers his real vocation not directing, but music. He claims to only make films in his spare time.

Origin of the director

Emir Kusturica was born in Sarajevo on November 24, 1954. Sarajevo is a city that was at that time the capital of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is part of Yugoslavia. Today it is the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an independent state. The parents of the future director were non-practicing Muslims, however, according to the Emir himself, his distant ancestors were Orthodox Serbs. Murat Kusturica, Emir's father, was a memberCommunist Party. He served in the Ministry of Information of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Training, first films

While studying at the gymnasium, Emir became seriously interested in football. At one time he even wanted to play in a professional club. But I had to forget about the career of a football player due to joint disease. Kusturica became interested in cinema around the same time. He created a small amateur tape, which unexpectedly received an award.

When Kusturica was 18 years old, he went to Prague in order to get an education. His aunt lived in this city at that time. As Emir recalls, being in the center of European civilization was a real shock for him. Emir decided to choose the film and television department of the Prague Academy of Performing Arts. This is a very prestigious educational institution. Its graduates at different times were Jiri Menzel, Milos Forman and Goran Paskalevich. Kusturica created his first films during his studies in Prague. In 1971, "Part of the Truth", a short film, appeared, and the following year, "Autumn".

Thesis

The 25-minute film "Guernica" (1978) was Emir's graduation work. It tells the story of a Jewish boy in the late 1930s. Kusturica's film is directed against anti-Semitism and Nazism. In this picture, Emir was both a screenwriter, director and cameraman. The film received the main prize in Karlovy Vary, at the Student Film Festival.

Return to Sarajevo

After returning toKusturica's hometown made two films for local television. In 1978, the painting "The Brides Come" appeared. However, due to moral and ethical considerations, this film was never shown on the screen. Emir Kusturica later said in an interview that making this tape was a very brave act, since the topics covered in the film were taboo in socialist Yugoslavia. After the creation of this picture, the cooperation of Emir with the cameraman Vilko Filach began.

Another TV movie appeared in 1979 - "Café Titanic". It was based on a novel by Ivo Andric. The events unfold in Sarajevo during the Second World War.

Do you remember Dolly Bell?

The director's full-length debut took place in 1981 with the release of this film. Slavko Štimac played the lead role. This is the first Yugoslav film made in the Bosnian dialect and not in the official Serbo-Croatian language. The first major success brought Kusturica this work - an award for the best debut picture of the Venice Film Festival and the FIPRESCI Prize. Emir came to the official screening of this film straight from the barracks, because at that time the director was serving in the army! The film tells about a young man from Sarajevo, who was just entering adulthood, about his childhood and growing up, about his first love, about the future as he imagined it in the early 1960s. The director repeatedly emphasized that this work is an autobiography of several generations.

Dad on a business trip

Only 4 years later Kusturica pleased the audience with a new film. In 1985 appearedpainting "Dad on a business trip". This film is dedicated to the post-war period in Yugoslavia, which was seen through the eyes of a child. Marshal Tito was no longer alive by the time the picture appeared, however, despite this, his quarrel with Stalin and the post-war repressions mentioned in the film were still taboo topics. In this work, Kusturica filmed Mirjana Karanovic, Predrag Manojlovic and Davor Dujmovic for the first time. These actors subsequently participated in several other tapes of the director. Kusturica received the Palme d'Or for his painting, as well as the FIPRESCI prize. In addition, the picture was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Oscar. Milos Forman, who presented Emir with the Palme d'Or, called him the main hope of world cinema.

Film "Time of the Gypsies"

"Time of the Gypsies" is Kusturica's third painting. It was created in 1988 with the participation of Italian and British producers. The tape, filmed in Macedonia, was the Emir's first appeal to the gypsy theme, as well as the first picture in the history of cinema in the gypsy language about the gypsies. Davor Dujmovic starred in the title role - he played the teenager Perhan. Goran Bregovic was hired by Emir Kusturica to work on the film. The music for the picture was created by him. Kusturica collaborated with Goran in the next two films. The director was awarded for "Time of the Gypsies" the prize for directing at the Cannes Film Festival. Emir Kusturica started playing bass in the Sarajevo-based punk rock band Zabranjeno Pušenje around the same time. However, she soon stoppedtime to exist.

Trip to USA

Director Emir Kusturica, who at that time already had little experience working at the Sarajevo film school (he was fired from it after he started playing in the group "Zabranjeno Pušenje"), was invited by M. Forman to Columbia University to read lectures. He began teaching in America at the age of 36. Emir decided to try to fit into the Hollywood system, while not losing his originality. In the US, he shot his new picture.

Arizona Dream

The screenplay, written by David Atkins, a student of Kusturica's, became the basis of "Arizona Dream", Emir's English-language film, after minor revisions. He came out in 1993. This film starred such stars of American cinema as Faye Dunaway and Johnny Depp. It took the director a lot of time to create the picture. The release date has been pushed back several times. The resulting film flopped at the box office and was not critically acclaimed. However, at the Berlin Film Festival, he received the Silver Bear Award. Arizona Dream was Kusturica's first and probably last American film. The director now says he doesn't want to work in Hollywood anymore.

Kusturica returns to Yugoslavia

The Bosnian war began in 1992. The house of the Kusturica family, located in Sarajevo, was destroyed. Murat died of a heart attack shortly after these events. The director's family moved toMontenegro. Observing what was happening in his country, Emir returned to Yugoslavia to work on a new painting. This time it was a phantasmogorical film-parable "Underground". This black comedy film was written by Dusan Kovacevic, the famous playwright from Yugoslavia.

Underground

This film was released in 1995. Kusturica, in his new directorial work, connected the past of his country with the episodes of modern history (in particular, the first events of the war in the Balkans). The reaction to this picture was mixed. Critics compared this work with "War and Peace", and the Sarajevo administration began real repressions against the director's family. The tone of some of the film's reviews was so appalling that Emir announced that he was retiring from acting. The director decided that he was not understood. However, Underground at the Cannes Film Festival brought him the 2nd Palme d'Or. Thus, the Serbian director became the fourth to win this prize twice. B. August, F. Coppola and A. Sjoberg were awarded this honor before him.

Black cat, white cat

We continue to describe the films of Emir Kusturica. The list will be supplemented by the picture "Black cat, white cat". After 3 years, Emir again returned to the gypsy theme. His new film, unlike the previous picture ("Time of the Gypsies"), was a comedy. It appeared in 1998 and grew out of a project about gypsy music made for German television. In 1998, this picture on"Venice Film Festival" became a favorite, but did not receive the main prize, although Emir was awarded the "Silver Lion" for best director. Kusturica after "Underground" stopped working with G. Bregovic, so the music for the new film was written by Nelle Karajlich.

The No Smoking Orchestra is born

Shortly before starting his work on "Black Cat…" Karajlić created his own version of Zabranjeno Pušenje, a Sarajevo rock band, and became a co-songwriter and vocalist in it. The group was called The No Smoking Orchestra and by the time the "Black Cat …" was created, they had already recorded the album "Ja nisam odavle". It was dedicated to the victims of the war in Yugoslavia 1992-95

A long break followed after this picture. During it, Emir Kusturica did not create films, but was mainly engaged in The No Smoking Orchestra.

Stribor Kusturica, his son, took the place behind the drum kit. In 2001, he made a film about her ("Stories on Super 8") Emir Kusturica. The songs of this group are quite famous today.

Kusturica's acting work

It cannot be said, however, that Kusturica had no contact with the world of cinema during this period. He starred as an actor in the 2000 film The Widow of Saint Pierre and the 2003 film The Good Thief. In addition, Kusturica became the producer of the picture of Dusan Milic, his compatriot. We are talking about the 2003 film "Strawberry in the Supermarket".

Lifelike a miracle

Emir Kusturica after a long break, in 2004, released a new film "Life is like a miracle". The director in it again turned to the problem of the war in the Balkans. The film was shot in the genre of tragicomedy, Kusturica's favorite. Slavko Štimac played the lead role. In addition, Mirjana Karanovic (who also played in the film "Dad on a Business Trip") and Vesna Trivalic, as well as Kusturica's son Stribor and 2 musicians from The No Smoking Orchestra - Dejan Sparavolo and Nelle Karajlich appeared on the screen. This film was shown at the 57th Cannes Film Festival, but received only an award from the French education system. Life is a Miracle, however, won the César award.

In 2005, Kusturica himself became the head of the Cannes jury. Under his leadership, it awarded the Dardenne brothers' film The Child with the Palme d'Or. In the same year, Kusturica participated in the creation of "Invisible Children", a film almanac. He directed the episode "Blue Gypsy", one of seven in this film.

Covenant

In May 2007, Emir Kusturica's 8th feature film titled "The Testament" premiered. The director participated with this work at the 60th Cannes Film Festival and for the first time in 5 years of participation did not take a single prize.

In 2007, on June 26, the premiere of "Time of the Gypsies" took place - a punk opera, which was created based on the painting of the same name by musicians from The No Smoking Orchestra. The documentary "Maradona" was released in 2008. It is dedicated to DiegoMaradona, the famous soccer player from Argentina. It premiered at the 61st Cannes Film Festival.

Life outside the cinema

Emir Kusturica, whose films have become world famous today, has been making few films lately. He mainly tours with The No Smoking Orchestra. He has a wife Maya and two children - son Stribor and daughter Dunya. Stribor, in addition to participating in a rock band, starred in two films of his father - "Life as a Miracle" and "Testament".

Director Emir Kusturica converted to Orthodoxy in 2005. According to Emir, he simply returned to his roots, since Kusturica's ancestors were Orthodox Serbs. The director is fond of playing football (he likes to kick the ball) and musical projects, as well as architecture. For the project of the village of Drvengrad, he even received the Philippe Rothier Prize in 2005. It is built in the mountainous region of Serbia entirely from wood. This village is not a populated area. It is a tourist attraction. According to Kusturica, he wanted to create it in memory of his native village.

Many criticize the director for his radical views and excessive political activity. However, he never cared. Kusturica simply cannot be aloof from the ongoing events. There is a known case when the Emir challenged Vojislav Seselj, the leader of the Serbian nationalists, to a duel. This happened in 1993. Kusturica offered him a duel in the very center of Belgrade. Seselj, fortunately, refused.

One hundred troubles

Most recently, in 2015, presentedanother surprise for the admirers of his talent, Emir Kusturica. "One Hundred Troubles" is a collection of short stories that has become a real sensation of the European literary season. It seems that in his prose, Emir resurrects the magical atmosphere of such films as "Life is like a miracle", "Dad on a business trip", "Black cat, white cat". The fabric of life with traditions and foundations, family rituals is torn. This is happening under the pressure of political events, as Emir Kusturica notes. "A Hundred Troubles" is a collection of stories in which snakes drinking milk, then sheep exploding in a minefield, or flying lovers flicker through the gaps. The comic, absurd, burlesque, and sometimes tragic situations in which the heroes of the short stories find themselves reflected the author's thoughts about the fate of the motherland, about the clash of youth with the cruel world of adults, about the time when childhood leaves. The explosive fantasy of the author was revealed in these stories.

As you can see, Emir Kusturica is a multi-talented person. Books, directing, acting, music - all this is subject to his talent. Who knows what else Emir will bring us in the future?