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Küstendorf Film Festival () is an annual event held during early January in the village of Drvengrad (also known as Küstendorf) in the Mokra Gora region of
Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
. 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 film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...
s. 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 Nikita Sergeyevich Mikhalkov (; born 21 October 1945) is a Russian filmmaker and actor. He made his directorial debut with the Red Western film ''At Home Among Strangers'' (1974) after appearing in a series of films, including the romantic com ...
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 Fatih Akin (, born 25 August 1973) is a Turkish-German film director, screenwriter and producer. His films have won numerous awards and accolades, including the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for his film '' Head-On'' (2004), Best Scr ...
, Cristian Mungiu (came with his
Palme d'Or The (; ) is the highest prize awarded to the director of the Best Feature Film of the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festiv ...
-winning film '' 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days'' and held a workshop), Miki Manojlović, Michael Radford, Serbian prime minister
Vojislav Koštunica Vojislav Koštunica ( sr-cyrl, Војислав Коштуница, ; born 24 March 1944) is a Serbian former politician who served as the last President of Serbia and Montenegro, president of FR Yugoslavia from 2000 to 2003 and as the Prime Min ...
, Eran Kolirin, Danish film critic Christian Monggaard, Matija Bećković, and Romanian actor Răzvan Vasilescu. The three-man jury headed by
Peter Handke Peter Handke (; born 6 December 1942) is an Austrians, Austrian novelist, playwright, translator, poet, film director, and screenwriter. He was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Literature "for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has ...
, 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 Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...
and Mistrzowska Szkoła Reżyserii Filmowej Andrzeja Wajdy in
Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
) 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 Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
) for ''Como todo el mundo'' (Like Everybody Else). The musical program consisted of performances by: Almezijan's Obsession from
Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...
, 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 Boris Tadić, (born 15 January 1958) is a Serbian politician who served as the president of Serbia from 2004 to 2012. Born in Sarajevo, he graduated from the University of Belgrade with a degree in psychology. He later worked as a journalist ...
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 The Albanians are an ethnic group native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, Albanian culture, culture, Albanian history, history and Albanian language, language. They are the main ethnic group of Albania and Kosovo, ...
from Serbia's province of
Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...
were in the final stages of coordination with the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
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 (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968 in France, May 1968. Initially positioned on the far left of Fr ...
'' 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 A panegyric ( or ) is a formal public speech or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing. The original panegyrics were speeches delivered at public events in ancient Athens. Etymology The word originated as a compound of - ' ...
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 James Robert Jarmusch ( ; born January 22, 1953) is an American film director, screenwriter and musician. He has been a major proponent of independent film, independent cinema since the 1980s, directing films such as ''Stranger Than Paradise'' ...
who held a workshop and whose retrospective of films was screened - ''
Stranger than Paradise ''Stranger Than Paradise'' is a 1984 American black-and-white absurdist deadpan comedy film directed, co-written and co-edited by Jim Jarmusch, and starring jazz musician John Lurie, former Sonic Youth drummer-turned-actor Richard Edson, an ...
'', '' Down by Law'', ''
Dead Man ''Dead Man'' is a 1995 American acid Western film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. It stars Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Billy Bob Thornton, Iggy Pop, Crispin Glover, John Hurt, Michael Wincott, Lance Henriksen, Gabriel Byrne, Mili A ...
'', and ''
Broken Flowers ''Broken Flowers'' is a 2005 French-American comedy drama, comedy-drama film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch and produced by Jon Kilik and Stacey Smith. The film focuses on an aging "Don Juan" who embarks on a cross-country journey to track ...
''. 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 The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...
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 Moldavia (, or ; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ) is a historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester River. An initially in ...
, Leb i sol, Haydamaky from
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
, Natty Bo and the Tom Cats from the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, La Mano Ajena from
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
, the No Smoking Orchestra, and folklore ensemble Svetozar Marković.


2010

The main guest of the 2010 edition was
Johnny Depp John Christopher Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Johnny Depp, multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for ...
whose retrospective of films was screened — '' Arizona Dream'', '' Donnie Brasco'', and ''
Edward Scissorhands ''Edward Scissorhands'' is a 1990 American gothic romantic fantasy film directed by Tim Burton. It was produced by Burton and Denise Di Novi, written by Caroline Thompson from a story by her and Burton, and starring Johnny Depp as the title ...
''. 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 Francisco "Pancho" Villa ( , , ; born José Doroteo Arango Arámbula; 5 June 1878 – 20 July 1923) was a Mexican revolutionary and prominent figure in the Mexican Revolution. He was a key figure in the revolutionary movement that forced ...
. 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 Boris Tadić, (born 15 January 1958) is a Serbian politician who served as the president of Serbia from 2004 to 2012. Born in Sarajevo, he graduated from the University of Belgrade with a degree in psychology. He later worked as a journalist ...
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 Fatih Akin (, born 25 August 1973) is a Turkish-German film director, screenwriter and producer. His films have won numerous awards and accolades, including the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for his film '' Head-On'' (2004), Best Scr ...
, Elia Suleiman,
Pavel Lungin Pavel Semyonovich Lungin (; born 12 July 1949) is a Russian film director. He is sometimes credited as Pavel Loungine (as in the American release of ''Tycoon (2002 film), Tycoon''). Lungin was awarded the distinction People's Artist of Russia in ...
,
Asghar Farhadi Asghar Farhadi ( ; born 7 May 1972)Soureh Movie Database
is an Iranian ...
and Steve Holmgren. The jury was headed by director
Marjane Satrapi Marjane Satrapi (; ; born 22 November 1969) is a French-Iranian graphic novelist, cartoonist, illustrator, film director, and children's book author. Her best-known works include the graphic novel ''Persepolis (comics), Persepolis'' and Persepo ...
(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 Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
, Aynur Doğan from
Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
, Os Festicultores Troupe from
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, Vladimir Maričić Quartet, Rubl from
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
, Tonino Carotone from
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
, 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 Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He is known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and ...
'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 Abbas Kiarostami ( ; 22 June 1940 – 4 July 2016) was an Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, photographer, and film producer. An active filmmaker from 1970, Kiarostami had been involved in the production of over forty films, including s ...
was the main guest and a retrospective of his films — ''
Close-Up A close-up or closeup in filmmaking, television production A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, s ...
'', '' Taste of Cherry'', '' Where Is the Friend's Home?'', and ''
Through the Olive Trees ''Through the Olive Trees'' () is a 1994 Iranian drama film written, produced, edited and directed by Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami. The final part of Kiarostami's Koker trilogy, the plot, set in earthquake-ravaged Northern Iran, revolves a ...
'' — was screened. Additionally the festival was visited by
Gael García Bernal Gael García Bernal (; born 30 November 1978) is a Mexican actor and filmmaker. He is known for his performances in the films ''Amores perros'' (2000), ''Y tu mamá también'' (2001), ''Bad Education (2004 film), Bad Education'' (2004), ''The Mot ...
,
Nikita Mikhalkov Nikita Sergeyevich Mikhalkov (; born 21 October 1945) is a Russian filmmaker and actor. He made his directorial debut with the Red Western film ''At Home Among Strangers'' (1974) after appearing in a series of films, including the romantic com ...
, 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 Beogradski Sindikat (Serbian Cyrillic: Београдски Синдикат, English: ''Belgrade Syndicate'') is a Serbian Hip hop music, hip-hop collective from Belgrade, Serbia. Beogradski Sindikat is one of the pioneers of the second wave ...
, Ngoma Africa Band from
Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...
, Manouchka Orkestär from
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, Andre Williams, and
Farmers Market A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or ...
from
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
. 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'' scheduled to screen after Kusturica reportedly saw it and liked it, Malagurski ended up being uninvited from the festival with his film removed from the screening schedule without explanation. Inquiring as to what had occurred, Malagurski reportedly contacted the same contacts within Küstendorf organization that had booked him at the festival in the first place, but received a non-specific answer that "things have gotten difficult, the decision is no longer ours". In January 2015, Malagurski spoke about the episode: "According to the information I was able to obtain, the person responsible for '' The Weight of Chains'' not being screened at Küstendorf is Nebojša Bradić, then culture minister and member of G17+, a political party the movie is critical of. It's unfortunate, really, one would think a party supposedly advocating " European and Western values" would not specifically go out of its way to silence
free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recognise ...
,
freedom of thought Freedom of thought is the freedom of an individual to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, independent of others' viewpoints. Overview Every person attempts to have a cognitive proficiency by developing knowledge, concepts, theo ...
, and pluralism, which is exactly what they did in this instance. I was also a bit disappointed that Kusturica, a world-renowned director with so much acclaim and stature, caved in to an entirely irrelevant bureaucrat like Bradić".


2012

The fifth Küstendorf Festival occurred from 17th until 23 January with
Kim Ki-duk Kim Ki-duk ( ; 20 December 196011 December 2020) was a South Korean film director and screenwriter, noted for his Idiosyncrasy, idiosyncratic Art film, art-house cinematic works. His films have received many distinctions in the festival circuit ...
and
Nuri Bilge Ceylan Nuri Bilge Ceylan (; born 26 January 1959) is a Turkish director, screenwriter, photographer and actor. His film ''Winter Sleep (film), Winter Sleep'' (2014) won the Palme d'Or at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, 67th Cannes Film Festival, while s ...
as main guests. In their honour, this year's retrospective of greatness programme featured their films — Ki-duk's '' Bad Guy'' and '' 3-Iron'' as well as Ceylan's '' Kasaba'' and '' Uzak''. Furthermore, their latest films — Ki-duk's ''
Arirang ''Arirang'' ( ) is a Korean folk song. There are about 3,600 variations of 60 different versions of the song, all of which include a refrain similar to "arirang, arirang, arariyo" (""). It is estimated that the song is more than 600 years old ...
'' and Ceylan's ''
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia ''Once Upon a Time in Anatolia'' () is a 2011 internationally co-produced drama film, co-written and directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan based on the true experience of one of the film's writers, telling the story of a group of men who search for a dead ...
'' were shown as part of the contemporary trends programme. Additional guests, all of whom held workshops, included Abel Ferrara (his latest '' 4:44 Last Day on Earth'' shown in contemporary trends programme), Isabelle Huppert,
Tahar Rahim Tahar Rahim (born 4 July 1981) is a French actor. His breakthrough performance was in the 2009 French film '' A Prophet'', for which he won the César Award for Best Actor and Most Promising Actor. He then starred as FBI agent Ali Soufan in t ...
,
Marjane Satrapi Marjane Satrapi (; ; born 22 November 1969) is a French-Iranian graphic novelist, cartoonist, illustrator, film director, and children's book author. Her best-known works include the graphic novel ''Persepolis (comics), Persepolis'' and Persepo ...
('' Chicken with Plums''), the Dardenne brothers (their '' The Kid with a Bike'' shown), Andreas Dresen ('' Stopped on Track''), Frederikke Aspöck (''Out of Bounds''), and Olivier Horlait. Cannes Film Festival artistic director Thierry Frémaux made a return visit to the festival. On the last day, the festival was visited by Milorad Dodik, the president of
Republika Srpska Republika Srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Република Српска, ; also referred to as the Republic of Srpska or Serb Republic) is one of the two Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities within Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other bein ...
(Serb entity within neighbouring
Bosnia-Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to the north a ...
. The previous June, Kusturica and Dodik's government started an architectural project — Kamengrad or Andrićgrad — under construction in
Višegrad Višegrad ( sr-cyrl, Вишеград, ) is a town and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It rests at the confluence of the Drina and the Rzav (Drina), Rzav river. As of 2013, the municipality has a population of 10,668 in ...
. The jury consisting of Iranian actress Leila Hatami, French producer , and Serbian actor Zoran Cvijanović awarded the Golden Egg to Spaniard Fernando Pomares, a student at ESCAC (Escuela de Cine de Catalunya) in
Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
, for his short ''Alto Sauce''. The Silver Egg went to Serb Jelena Gavrilović for ''Boys Where Are You?'' while Piotr Subbotko of Poland got the Bronze Egg for ''Glasgow''. During closing ceremonies, Kusturica screened ''Our Life'', his 15-minute segment in the 7-segment film project ''Words with Gods''. In its fifth edition, the festival finally began attracting larger international media attention with several established publications and electronic outlets sending reporters to cover it. As a result, it received affirmative notices in
Euronews Euronews (stylised in lowercase) is a pan-European television news broadcasting, news network, headquartered in Lyon, France. It is a provider of livestreamed news, which can be viewed in Europe and North Africa via satellite, and in most of the ...
, ''
El País (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...
'', ''
Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...
'', ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', and ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' as well as a series of glowing reports in the ''
Filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...
'' magazine whose reporter interviewed many of this year's Küstendorf's guests.


2013

The sixth edition of Küstendorf took place from 16th until 22 January. The grand opening ceremony included Kusturica again taking on
Bruce Willis Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series ''Moonlighting (TV series), Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and has appeared in over one hundred films, gaining ...
in a fistfight signifying a "battle between
Goliath Goliath ( ) was a Philistines, Philistine giant in the Book of Samuel. Descriptions of Goliath's giant, immense stature vary among biblical sources, with texts describing him as either or tall. According to the text, Goliath issued a challen ...
and
David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...
, between ideology-based film and auteur film". Though originally planned to be shown outdoors on a holographic screen, the fight had to be moved indoors due to bad weather. Chinese director
Zhang Yimou Zhang Yimou (; born 14 November 1950) is a Chinese filmmaker.Tasker, Yvonne (2002). "Zhang Yimou" i''Fifty Contemporary Filmmakers'' Routledge Publishing, p. 412. . Google Book Search. Retrieved 21 August 2008. A leading figure of China's Cinem ...
was this year's main guest at the festival. In addition to his visit that included a workshop with film students, the retrospective of his films was shown, including '' Not One Less'' and '' Raise the Red Lantern'' as well as his latest film '' The Flowers of War'' as part of the contemporary programme. The short film competition included 28 films from all over the world. The 3-member jury included Israeli actress and novelist Alona Kimhi (jury president), producer Michael Hausman, and Oleg Jeknić. Other guests included
Benh Zeitlin Benjamin Harold Zeitlin (; born October 14, 1982) is an American filmmaker, best known for directing and co-writing the 2012 film ''Beasts of the Southern Wild'', for which he received two Academy Award nominations. Early life Zeitlin was born i ...
(screened his ''
Beasts of the Southern Wild ''Beasts of the Southern Wild'' is a 2012 American fantasy-drama film directed, co-written, and co-scored by Benh Zeitlin. It was adapted by Zeitlin and Lucy Alibar from Alibar's one-act play ''Juicy and Delicious''. The film stars Quvenzhan� ...
'' as part of contemporary programme and held a workshop),
Aleksei Balabanov Aleksei Oktyabrinovich Balabanov (; 25 February 1959 – 18 May 2013) was a Russian film director, screenwriter, and Film producer, producer, a member of European Film Academy. He started from creating mostly arthouse pictures and music videos ...
(his latest film ''Me Too'' screened in contemporary programme and he held a workshop), Audrey Tautou (held a workshop and visited Kamengrad), Matteo Garrone,
Monica Bellucci Monica Anna Maria Bellucci (; born 30 September 1964) is an Italian actress and model who began her career as a fashion model before working in Italian, American, and French films. She has an eclectic filmography in a range of genres and langua ...
, Yeşim Ustaoğlu, Elia Suleiman, Olja Bećković, Matija Bećković, and
Péter Gothár Péter Gothár (born 28 August 1947) is a Hungarian film director and screenwriter. He has directed 23 films since 1974. His film '' The Outpost'' was screened in the Un Certain Regard (; 'A Certain Glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Fe ...
. Monica Bellucci's 3-day stay at the festival, which Kusturica referred to as "the beautiful spice that captures attention", created another wave of international media coverage similar to three years earlier when Johnny Depp visited. The Italian actress' star power, glamorous image, and sex appeal generated media attention that by proxy also created publicity for the festival as well as for her just announced film with Kusturica tentatively titled ''Love and War''. In another similarity to Depp's 2010 visit, Bellucci also had a wall-to-wall promotional schedule that included media and visiting state dignitaries — on 19 January she flew into
Banja Luka Banja Luka ( sr-Cyrl, Бања Лука, ) or Banjaluka ( sr-Cyrl, Бањалука, ) is the List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the largest city in Republika Srpska. Banja Luka is the tr ...
where she was met by Kusturica who first took her for a photo-op visit with Milorad Dodik, the president of
Republika Srpska Republika Srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Република Српска, ; also referred to as the Republic of Srpska or Serb Republic) is one of the two Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities within Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other bein ...
. During the visit, Kusturica announced plans for a movie set during
Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following several earlier violent incid ...
with Bellucci playing a Serbian woman, scheduled to begin shooting in May 2013 in
Trebinje Trebinje ( sr-Cyrl, Требиње, ) is a city and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the southernmost city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and is situated on the banks of the Trebišnjica river in the region of East Her ...
with Dodik and Republika Srpska authorities involved in financing. She and Kusturica then flew by helicopter to Kamengrad for another photo-op before finally crossing the border into Serbia for the festival site in Drvengrad. The next day, Serbian prime minister Ivica Dačić came to Drvengrad and had a photo-op visit arranged with the actress during which he gave her a reprint of the White Angel fresco from the Mileševa monastery.


2014

The festival was held from the 18th until the 23rd of January with Bérénice Bejo presiding over the jury that also includes screenwriters Guillermo Arriaga and Srđan Koljević.


2015

Going into its eight edition, the festival got a shot in the arm with the '' MovieMaker'' magazine naming it one of the '25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World'.


Awards


Golden Egg for Best Short Film


References


External links

*
Kustendorf 2008 recap
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kustendorf Film And Music Festival Emir Kusturica Film festivals in Serbia 2008 establishments in Serbia Küstendorf Music festivals established in 2008 Winter in Serbia