Küstendorf Film and Music Festival

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Küstendorf Film & Music Festival
Drvengrad, Serbia
Founded2008; 16 years ago (2008)
AwardsGolden Egg
Hosted byEmir Kusturica
Festival dateEvery January
Websitewww.kustendorf-filmandmusicfestival.org

Küstendorf Film Festival (

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

Kusturica and Serbian Minister of Culture Vojislav Brajović announce the new film and musical festival in December 2007.

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.[1]

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

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).[2]

The musical program consisted of performances by:

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.[3]

2009

In 2009, the festival was held from January 8 until January 14. The main guest was

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[5][6][7][8] that included publicizing Kusturica's recently announced film project with Depp set to play Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa.[9] 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.[10]

Other guests, all of whom held workshops, included

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:

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.[11] 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.[12]

Where Is the Friend's Home?, and Through the Olive Trees
— was screened.

Additionally the festival was visited by

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.[13]
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

free speech, freedom of thought, 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".[19]

2012

The fifth Küstendorf Festival occurred from 17th until 23 January with Kim Ki-duk and Nuri Bilge Ceylan 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 and Ceylan's Once Upon a Time in Anatolia 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, Marjane Satrapi (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 (Serb entity within neighbouring Bosnia-Herzegovina.[20] The previous June, Kusturica and Dodik's government started an architectural project — Kamengrad or Andrićgrad — under construction in Višegrad.

The jury consisting of Iranian actress Leila Hatami, French producer Pierre Edelman [fr], and Serbian actor Zoran Cvijanović awarded the Golden Egg to Spaniard Fernando Pomares, a student at ESCAC (Escuela de Cine de Catalunya) in Barcelona, 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.[21] As a result, it received affirmative notices in Euronews,[22] El País,[23] Le Monde,[24][25] The Independent,[26] and Los Angeles Times[27] as well as a series of glowing reports in the Filmmaker magazine whose reporter interviewed many of this year's Küstendorf's guests.[28][29][30][31]

2013

The sixth edition of Küstendorf took place from 16th until 22 January. The grand opening ceremony included Kusturica again taking on

auteur film".[32][33][34] Though originally planned to be shown outdoors on a holographic screen, the fight had to be moved indoors due to bad weather.[35]

Chinese director Zhang Yimou 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 (screened his Beasts of the Southern Wild as part of contemporary programme and held a workshop), Aleksei Balabanov (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, Yeşim Ustaoğlu, Elia Suleiman, Olja Bećković, Matija Bećković, and Péter Gothár.

Monica Bellucci's 3-day stay at the festival, which Kusturica referred to as "the beautiful spice that captures attention",

Mileševa monastery.[43]

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'.[44]

Awards

Golden Egg for Best Short Film

Year Film Director Jury members
2008
In Between
 Spain Jose E. Iglesias Peter Handke, Andrea Gambeta, Ninos Feneck Mikelidis
2009
Godog
 Japan Kohki Hasei Anica Dobra, Karl Baumgartner, Gian Luca Farinelli
2010
Paradis Perdu
 France Mihal Brezis
Israel Oded Binnun 		Marjane Satrapi, Sara Driver, Jonathan Weisgal
2011
The Chance
 Russia Sonya Karpunina Vincent Maraval, Iva Draškić Vićanović, Richard Brick
2012
Alto Sauce
 Spain Fernando Pomares Leila Hatami, Pierre Edelman, Zoran Cvijanović
2013
Stammering Love
 Switzerland Jan Czarlewski Alona Kimhi, Michael Hausman, Oleg Jeknić
2014
The Exhibition
 Slovakia Andrej Kolenčik, Peter Beganyi Bérénice Bejo, Guillermo Arriaga, Srđan Koljević
2015
Stella Maris
 Italy Giacomo Abbruzzese Claudie Ossard, Amanda Nevill, Alex Garcia
2016
Watrburg
 Hungary David Borbás Maji-da Abdi, Divna Vuksanović, Flaminio Zadra
2017
Thorn
 Israel Michael Alalu Geling Yan, Christian Valsamidis, Nikola Ležaić
2018
Bomboné
 State of Palestine Rakan Mayasi Peca Popović, Vlastimir Sudar, Nikola Vučinić
2019
All Inclusive
 Switzerland Corina Schwingruber Ilić Stana Katic, Slobodan Despot, Tancrede Ramonet, Michel Amathieu
2020
The Christmas Gift
 Romania Bogdan Muresanu Paolo Virzì, Tonino Benacquista, Vladislav Tkachiev

References

  1. ^ Küstendorf 2008
  2. ^ RTS piece from 2008 Küstendorf
  3. ^ A Kustendorf, Emir fait le maximum;Libération, 30 January 2008
  4. ^ RTVojvodine piece
  5. ^ Johnny Depp in Serbia for Kusturica's film festival;Agence France-Presse, 12 January 2010
  6. ^ Serbia's American Idol: Johnny Depp;E! Online, 13 January 2010
  7. ^ Johnny Helps Treat Serbia to Double the Depp;PopSugar, 14 January 2010
  8. ^ Johnny Depp statue unveiled in Serbia;BBC, 14 January 2010
  9. ^ Johnny Depp gets statue in Serbia;USA Today online, 13 January 2010
  10. ^ Kusturica & Depp & Goran Krneta
  11. ^ Otvoren četvrti "Kustendorf";Blic, 5 January 2011
  12. ^ Specijalni gosti "Kustendorfa";B92, 20 December 2010
  13. ^ Pobednica Kustendorfa Sonja Karpunina
  14. ^ "Četvrti Kustendorf početkom januara". Blic. Tanjug. 13 December 2010. Archived from the original on 7 October 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  15. ^ "Četvrti Kustendorf početkom januara". RTS.rs. 14 December 2010. Archived from the original on 24 December 2010. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  16. ^ Knežević-Kern, Mara (26 May 2011). "Boris Malagurski: Nepodnošljiva lakoća istine". Pečat. Archived from the original on 18 March 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  17. Z Communications. Archived
    from the original on 16 February 2015. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  18. ^ a b Gligorević, Gorana (1 April 2011). "Okovi raspada bivše Jugoslavije". Frankfurske Vesti. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  19. ^ Nataša (20 January 2015). "Subotica danas". TV X-Info. Archived from the original on 2021-12-15. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  20. ^ Prvi bitan mercedes na Mokroj gori;Vreme, 26 January 2012
  21. ^ Novinari oduševljeni: “Kustendorf” ima dušu[permanent dead link];Tanjug, 21 January 2012
  22. ^ Küstendorf festival Archived 2012-11-08 at the Wayback Machine;Euronews, 23 January 2012
  23. ^ Llanos Martínez, Héctor (24 January 2012). "Kustendorf, el festival de cine de Emir Kusturica premia al cine español". El País. Archived from the original on 28 January 2012. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  24. ^ Chez Kusturica, au coeur des montagnes de Serbie;Le Monde, 2 February 2012
  25. ^ "Chez Kusturica, au coeur des montagnes de Serbie". February 2012.
  26. ^ New stars shine at Küstendorf Film and Music Festival;The Independent, 3 February 2012
  27. ^ Re-creating a time of peace in the Balkans;Los Angeles Times, 5 February 2012
  28. ^ Ten Lessons on Filmmaking From Director Abel Ferrara;Filmmaker, 6 February 2012
  29. ^ Cannes Director Thierry Fremaux on the Future of Film Festivals;Filmmaker, 9 February 2012
  30. ^ Ten Lessons on Filmmaking From Persepolis Director Marjane Satrapi;Filmmaker, 5 March 2012
  31. ^ A Conversation with the Dardenne Brothers;Filmmaker, 14 March 2012
  32. ^ Kusturica 2013
  33. ^ Otvoren 6. Kustendorf;B92, 16 January 2013
  34. ^ Pogledajte kako je Kusturica "prebio" Brusa Vilisa na otvaranju Kustendorfa;Blic, 16 January 2013
  35. ^ Kustrica beats up Willis
  36. ^ Kusturica: Belučijeva je lepi začin;B92, 16 January 2013
  37. ^ Monica Bellucci protagonizará el nuevo filme de Kusturica;ABC, 19 January 2013
  38. ^ Monica Bellucci, héroïne d'un film de Kusturica tourné en Bosnie Archived 2013-01-21 at the Wayback Machine;fr.msn.com, 19 January 2013
  39. ^ Italian actress Monica Bellucci says her next film will be shot in Bosnia this spring[dead link];The Washington Post, 19 January 2013
  40. ^ Monica Bellucci, héroïne d'un film de Kusturica tourné en Bosnie;AFP, 19 January 2013
  41. ^ Monika Beluči u Banjaluci: Snimaću sa Kustom;mondo.rs, 19 January 2013
  42. ^ Gužva na Kustendorfu, došla Monika!;mondo.rs, 19 January 2013
  43. ^ „Бели анђео“ за филмског анђела;RTS, 21 January 2013
  44. ^ "The 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World, 2014". MovieMaker. 17 November 2014. Retrieved 8 January 2015.

External links

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