Born in Sarajevo, Bosnian director Emir Kusturica won, in 1995, in Cannes, his second Golden Palm for Underground - an inventive, colourful and controversial evocation of the Yugoslavian war. To his eyes, western civilization is on the wrong way.

• What do the attacks on Yugoslavia and the martyrdom of the Kosovars inspire to you ?
  • EK : My mother lives in Montenegro. My son, in Belgrade. Every evening, he goes in the shelters for the night. I consider these bombardments completely irrational, unjustifiable. They won't bring anything to anybody. And especially not to the Albanian civilians. By the way, what do the columns of refugees flee ? Exactions or NATO bombings ? The use of the force does not solve anything. Not more that of NATO than that of Milošević. If he is the dictator we denounce, if his misdeeds are proven, it is ridiculous to act like him. A bombardment never solved any problem.

• Do the raids help the regime ?
  • EK : Obviously, yes. The action of the allied reinforces the political base of Milošević, including among his most determined opponents. My friends in Belgrade told me that in case of election tomorrow he would have get 100% ! I would never be his lawyer, on the contrary. But you have to face it : the attitude of the West is terribly non-productive. What happens in such a context with those who, face to Belgrade, fight for the democratic change ? See the president of Montenegro, Milo Djukanović, a close friend whom I support in combat. What will happen to him ? What does his political project become ?

• Is there a pacific solution ?
  • EK : I don't know. The problem is old. It won't be solved tomorrow. But the solution undoubtedly needs a conference of the Balkan States, under international supervision.

• Does this crisis cause a gap between Serbian opinion and the West ?
  • EK : The divorce is already signed. I was very astonished by the size of the anti-NATO demonstrations last weekend. That simply means that people, inside and outside Yugoslavia, want peace before all.

Translation by Matthieu Dhennin