Küstendorf Film and Music Festival

Küstendorf Film Festival ( sr, Кустендорф филмски фестивал) is an annual event held during early January in the village of Drvengrad (also known as Küstendorf) in the Mokra Gora region of Serbia.

Established in 2008, it is a film and music festival organized by Rasta International, film director Emir Kusturica's production company, in the village whose construction he financed in mid-2000s on the slopes of Mećavnik hill. The festival has no commercial sponsors and is partly financed by the Ministry of Culture of Serbia.

In addition to feature films shown in several programs and musical performances, the festival features a competitive component for short films. The festival's main prize, Golden Egg (Zlatno jaje), is awarded for the best short film. Vilko Filač Award is given out for the best cinematography.

History

2008

In its inaugural edition from 14 to 21 January 2008, the festival's main guest was Nikita Mikhalkov who held a workshop, along with a retrospective of his films being shown — '' 12'', ''A Slave of Love'', '' A Few Days from the Life of I. I. Oblomov'', and ''An Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano''.

The festival was officially opened with the burial of '' Die Hard 4.0'' at the Bad Films Cemetery. The ceremony featured Nele Karajlić as Orthodox priest, Kusturica as eulogist, girls from Vrelo as wailing women with even the main guest Nikita Mikhalkov joining the procession.

Other guests at the festival included Fatih Akın, Cristian Mungiu (came with his Palme d'Or-winning film '' 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days'' and held a workshop), Miki Manojlović, Michael Radford, Serbian prime minister Vojislav Koštunica, Eran Kolirin, Danish film critic Christian Monggaard, Matija Bećković, and Romanian actor Răzvan Vasilescu.

The three-man jury headed by Peter Handke, featuring Italian film producer Andrea Gambeta and Greek journalist Ninos Feneck Mikelidis, awarded the Golden Egg to Spaniard Jose E. Iglesias Vigil (graduate of National Film School in Łódź and Mistrzowska Szkoła Reżyserii Filmowej Andrzeja Wajdy in Warsaw) for his short film ''In Between''. The Silver Egg went to Englishman Martin Hampton for ''Possessed'', and the Bronze Egg went to the Colombian Franco Lolli (graduate of La Fémis in Paris) for ''Como todo el mundo'' (Like Everybody Else).

The musical program consisted of performances by: Almezijan's Obsession from Armenia, Kal from Serbia, Stribor Kusturica & the Poisoners, Vrelo, No Smoking Orchestra, Nervozni Poštar, and Kiki Band.

Held against the backdrop of the 2008 Serbian presidential elections — contested between incumbent Boris Tadić from the ruling center-left Democratic Party (DS) and challenger Tomislav Nikolić from the opposition right-wing Serbian Radical Party (SRS) — as well as speculation that Albanians from Serbia's province of Kosovo were in the final stages of coordination with the United States to unilaterally declare independence, the festival received plenty of attention both in the Serbian and foreign press. Political angles and overtones dominated foreign press reports such as the one by Marie Colmant in center-left ''Libération'' who, after giving praise to the festival for celebrating auteur cinema, wondered if the fact that festival's jury is headed by Peter Handke — whom she described as someone "who still smelled of sulfur after being at Milošević's funeral and who wrote about Serbs in panegyric form due to seeing them unjustly accused of all evils" — also mean that Kusturica adheres to these ideas. She answers her own question by saying that, like Handke, Kusturica also believes western Europeans have demonized Serbs and Serbia, but that the Serbian director supports center-left candidate Tadić at the presidential elections.

2009

In 2009, the festival was held from January 8 until January 14. The main guest was Jim Jarmusch who held a workshop and whose retrospective of films was screened - ''Stranger than Paradise'', '' Down by Law'', ''Dead Man'', and ''Broken Flowers''.

Others that held a workshop were Kazakhstani film director Sergey Dvortsevoy whose feature film '' Tulpan'' was also shown at the festival and long time Cannes Film Festival artistic director Thierry Frémaux.

The three-person jury included actress Anica Dobra (jury president), producer Karl Baumgartner and film director Gian Luca Farinelli. They awarded the Golden Egg to documentary short film ''Godog'' by Japanese director Kohki Hasei, the silver Egg went to a German director Nina Vukovic for ''Miki's Ballad'', and the Bronze Egg went to American Shih-Ting Hung for ''Viola''.

On the music side of things, the festival featured performances by Zdob şi Zdub from Moldavia, Leb i sol, Haydamaky from Ukraine, Natty Bo and the Tom Cats from the United Kingdom, La Mano Ajena from Chile, the No Smoking Orchestra, and folklore ensemble Svetozar Marković.

2010

The main guest of the 2010 edition was Johnny Depp whose retrospective of films was screened — ''Arizona Dream'', '' Donnie Brasco'', and ''Edward Scissorhands''. As a special honour, a life-sized statue of Depp was unveiled by Kusturica at Drvengrad's main street in a brass band ceremony. The arrival of 46-year-old Depp, Kusturica's personal friend and one of the biggest and most bankable Hollywood movie stars at the moment, gave Küstendorf Festival its first taste of global media attention. Latching onto Depp's star power and sex symbol status, electronic and print media outlets from all across the world reported on the actor's stay in Serbia that included publicizing Kusturica's recently announced film project with Depp set to play Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa. Top Serbian political figures also took note of Depp being in the country; right after landing in Serbia, the film star got taken in by Kusturica for a photo-op visit with Serbian president Boris Tadić at the Andrićev Venac presidential palace in Belgrade before proceeding on to Drvengrad by helicopter.

Other guests, all of whom held workshops, included Raja Amari, Fatih Akın, Elia Suleiman, Pavel Lungin, Asghar Farhadi and Steve Holmgren.

The jury was headed by director Marjane Satrapi (with producer Sara Driver and producer Jonathan Weisgal rounding out the trio). The winning film they picked was ''Paradis Perdu'' (Lost Paradise) by Mihal Brezis & Oded Binnun.

The musical program selected by Nele Karajlić included: Global Kryner from Austria, Aynur Doğan from Turkey, Os Festicultores Troupe from France, Vladimir Maričić Quartet, Rubl from Russia, Tonino Carotone from Spain, and the No Smoking Orchestra.

2011

The fourth edition of the festival took place from 5th until 11 January with the opening ceremony inspired by a scene from Fellini's '' Amarcord'' featuring Nele Karajlić dressed in a bear costume and Vrelo girls followed by Serbian Minister of Culture Nebojša Bradić officially proclaiming the festival open. Serbian government's Ministry of Culture contributed RSD25 million (~€250,000) for this year's festival including the addition of Dom pisaca (Writers' Center) at Drvengrad.

Abbas Kiarostami was the main guest and a retrospective of his films — ''Close-Up'', ''Taste of Cherry'', ''Where Is the Friend's Home?'', and ''Through the Olive Trees'' — was screened.

Additionally the festival was visited by Gael García Bernal, Nikita Mikhalkov, Boris Mitić, Jan Hřebejk, and Petr Jarchovsky.

The 3-person jury presided by the Wild Bunch founder Vincent Maraval (with professor Iva Draškić Vićanović and producer Richard Brick rounding out the trio) awarded the Golden Egg to young Russian author Sonya Karpunina for ''The Chance''. The Silver Egg went to Polish director Julia Kolberger for ''Tomorrow I’ll be Gone'', and the Bronze Egg went to Serbian Ognjen Isailović for ''Golden League''.

The festival saw musical performances from: Beogradski Sindikat, Ngoma Africa Band from Tanzania, Manouchka Orkestär from France, Andre Williams, and Farmers Market from Norway.

The festival featured controversy in regards to the appearance of Serbian documentary filmmaker Boris Malagurski. Despite being announced as guest whose travel costs and stay were to be covered by the festival with his documentary ''The Weight of Chains