The world-renowned Serbian film director Emir Kusturica met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on Tuesday, thanked Putin for his “personal historical justice”, i.e. his war against Ukraine, and then told him that he would make three films from three classic Russian literary works – as long as Putin to support, 444 writes.
Until now, it was known about the film director that he was a Putinist. In 2012, he was the guest of honor at Putin’s third presidential inauguration, and after he supported the illegal occupation of Crimea in a statement, the Russian president awarded him the Order of Friendship. And in February 2022, he was appointed director-general of the theater of the Russian army.
On Tuesday, he met the Russian president in the Kremlin. Kusturica first thanked him for the “personal historical justice”, which he said the Slavs had never seen before. After that, he started a confusing explanation about how the Croatian supporters of Bandera, the extremist Ukrainian politician, expelled 230,000 Serbs from Croatia.
“Now a new world is beginning, I think, in fact, I believe in it!” – He told.
Then he gets to the point: he would make a trilogy of films from the works of three important Russian creators, “a Russian trilogy in this new world”. One would be about Dostoyevsky, a humorous piece would be based on the works of Gogol, and the third would be based on Tolstoy’s Cossacks. Moreover, if there could be a fourth film, it would be an adaptation of the contemporary Yevgeny Vodolazkin’s novel Laurus.
“I think that the new world and the end of my career would go well together. If you support it…
To which Putin, with a kind smile, notes that it is too early to talk about the end of his career and that he is sure that he will do great things. Which in flowery language can mean that the films get the green light.
Emir Kusturica is a multiple award-winning Serbian director, his films have been recognized with the most prestigious international awards, he won the Palme d’Or twice at the Cannes Film Festival, once for Gypsy Time in 1989 and once for Underground in 1995. The Hungarian audience is best known for the film Cat’s Woe, for which he received the Little Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival, but his film Life is a Miracle is also popular, for which he won the Golden Globe Award for best European film in 2005.
