Emir Kusturica was born in Sarajevo, main town of current Bosnia and Herzegovina. Even though Bosnian Muslim, his family has Slavic orthodox roots. His father Murat, as many millions of other Yugoslavs, had renounced to his faith to become a communist. Emir, only son, denounced the communism to become… director. Young Emir, certainly more by curiosity than to oppose his “good” family (his father worked in the Ministry of Information of Bosnia and Herzegovina¹⁾), went easily with “bad guys” of Sarajevo. His parents decided to send him abroad at 18 to protect him from such people. Since he was always in the neighbourhood cinema of Sarajevo, they sent him to learn cinema. A cousin was then leaving in Prague, Emir was thus sent to the prestigious FAMU, the school of Prague from which Miloš Forman, Jirí Menzel or Goran Paskaljević were graduated.

At that time, I was like a virgin land. I was very curious, but I didn't like school, and I had no real connections with the cinema. From that point of view, my career in cinema is a coincidence. But in fact, Hajrudin Krvavać, a friend of my father was directing institutional films at that time, and he once took me on a set. I was completely seduced by the wide variety of knowledges and experiences we could benefit from cinema. When I came back to Sarajevo after having done a good cinema school, I realized how much my region, my childhood memories, my personal experiences were rich enough to create stories. It was the first time I had fully realized what was the cinema.

Quickly appreciated, his first short films take this student out of the crowd. His teacher had already noticed it : Guernica, but more again Titanic which denounces the anti-Jewish racism under the WW2, had already given a favourable impression and he said : ”the only thing you'll leave behind you will be your film ; the end justifies the means”. This sentence marked him and helped him complete his first personal projects, like the very risky When father was away on business, denouncing the politic deportations in the communist Yugoslavia, subject still taboo at that time, shortly after Tito's death. Until then, Emir had always shot in his own language, using even the actor's local accents, to enhance the pluralism of Yugoslavia : in this way Do you remember Dolly Bell ? is the first Yugoslav film that was shot Bosnian, and not in the official language of the country, Serbo-Croatian (the equivalent of “BBC English”). Emir makes then an ambitious project with his scenarist : make a trilogy on the cosmopolitan city of Sarajevo. The second episode will be When father was away on business, but the unexpected Golden Palm will drive Emir into another world, and he will leave unfinished this trilogy.

To calm down, Emir Kusturica drops the camera for a while after Cannes' victory. He plays some bass guitar in a punk-rock band of Sarajevo : Zabranjeno Pušenje (smoking forbidden). The band is subversive, lyrics are corrosive, style is eclectic. In these years, Emir meets Dr. Nele Karajlić, the leader of the band.

The Golden Palm had opened all the doors of the cinema to him : large budgets are proposed. Emir thinks about different subjects, different places, but finally it's in his own country that he directs Time of the Gypsies, after having read articles about Gypsies dealing with human beings. Emir digs the subject with a journalist, and spends several months in one of the largest gypsy camps in Europe, near Skopje in Macedonia. At the end of the shooting, Czech director Miloš Forman calls him in New York to replace him at the Columbia University. Editing of the film Time of the Gypsies will be finished there.

After a long time of thinking, it's in English that he shoots his next film : Arizona Dream. One of his students of the Columbia University gives him a script about the American dream. But meanwhile, war starts in the Balkans, and far from his family, Emir cannot work any more. The shooting turns into a nightmare, and the film takes a darker colour…

Murat, Emir Kusturica's father, dies of an heart attack soon after the family house in Sarajevo is sacked. The family finds refuge in Montenegro. After this experience, Emir feels he needs to get back to his country to tell to the Westerners what is the story of his country. He starts his most ambitious opus : Underground. Based upon a scenario of Dušan Kovačević, great Yugoslav theatre author, he draws the story of 50 years of his country, since WW2 to the recent days. In a burlesque form, taking some tricks from the greatest masters, the film is highly baroque and colourful. Yet the background might seem to be ambiguous to those who make partial readings. Feeling that he made his “duty”, but also that he wasn't understood, Emir Kusturica thinks of retiring from cinema (see the polemics initiated by French intellectuals… His second Golden Palm remains nevertheless as the most significant of his career, and adds his names among the greatest directors of all times.

Quickly enough, Emir Kusturica comes back on his decision and decides to change the tone, by making lighter subjects, finishing with “happy ends” : in Black Cat, White Cat and Super 8 Stories, you feel optimism, even if every day's life is not always perfect. Optimism can also be seen on stage because since Black Cat, White Cat, Emir has rejoined his friend Dr. Nele Karajlić and the some of the members of the Zabranjeno Pušenje, re-baptised under their English translation : No Smoking Orchestra. Emir composes, plays and tours with the band. The success of the concerts is impressive, from South America to Japan.

Emir return behind the camera for a new long shooting : Life is a miracle took one year and a half for shooting, and Emir fell in love with the landscapes of Mokra Gora : the nature has almost the leading role, with gorgeous colours and impressive views. Once finished, Emir built there an ethno-village : Küstendorf, aiming at opening a cinema school, local crafts, guest houses, restaurants…

Back in Cannes in may 2005, Emir Kusturica is chosen to be the president of the jury of the festival. He returns after in Küstendorf to shoot his next film (Promise me this). In 2007, he is raised chevalier des arts et des lettres by French culture minister Renaud Donnedieu de vabre.

Emir Kusturica spends his life between cameras, festivals, concerts with the No Smoking Orchestra and Küstendorf, his village in Serbia.