Kusturica explained the absence of “Oscar”: he remembers the shooting of Yugoslavia by the Americans

2023-09-29 18:33:57

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The famous director raised a toast to Russia and Putin at a banquet with the rector of VGIK

Director Emir Kusturica was awarded the title of “Honorary Doctor of VGIK”, within whose walls he conducted his master class. The rector of the University of Cinematography invited the artist Nikas Safronov to this meeting with students, who presented the master of cinema with his portrait, after which he warmly celebrated this meeting. The artist characterizes the Yugoslav director as an iconic master of the Fellini-level class. Safronov calls Kusturica the greatest director – one of those “well-known”.

“Our average person remembers well only one name of European film directors – Kusturica, everyone knows him,” artist Nikas Safronov told MK. – He is close to us, he is a Slav and this Serb is a patriot of Russia. Emir Kusturica came to a meeting with VGIK students with his daughter Dunya. The emir spoke Russian – read from a piece of paper, then switched to English and already spoke without sheets of paper. He conducted his master class for two and a half hours, talking about cinema, about Fellini, about what to focus on in this world, what to strive for, what projects to set for yourself. Emir told the history of the art of cinema. In addition to his films, at a meeting with students, Kusturica showed fragments of films by Tarkovsky, Eisenstein and the Lumiere brothers. The students laughed and applauded. At the end of the meeting, I presented Kusturica with his graphic portrait, which I painted overnight. The emir turned it into the hall and told the students, “This is the best portrait I ever had!”

After the master class, the rector set a pleasant, light table in the reception area of ​​his office.

– We sat next to Kusturica and talked with him about life, politics, art and food. He refused to go to the restaurant because he admitted that he tries not to eat after six. Kusturica turned out to be a pleasant and intelligent interlocutor who knows the history of Russia very well – Gogol, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Leskov, Klyuchevsky, Karamzin. But they don’t give him an Oscar because he is too patriotic for his country in films about the execution of Yugoslavia by American troops. His films, twice awarded the Palme d’Or, are lively, watchable and not vulgar, they are healthy and close in spirit to the Slavs: not boring, with light humor and eroticism. This brilliant director is independent, does not bow to anyone, and is easy and pleasant to communicate with. Kusturica loves and respects our president, he even drank to Russia and Putin.