Küstendorf
”I lost my city during the war. This is why I wished to build my own village. It bears a German name : Küstendorf. I will organize there seminars for people who want to learn how to make cinema, concerts, ceramics, painting. It is the place where I will live and where some people will be able to come from time to time. There will be of course other inhabitants who will work there. I dream of an open place with cultural diversity which sets up against globalization.” (Emir Kusturica, July 2004)
This is a project Emir has worked on for several months. And it is now a reality. Küstendorf is the name of a traditional village that Emir has built where the shooting of Life is a miracle took place, south west from Belgrade, in Serbia, close to Mokra Gora, not far from the Bosnian border.
The (German) name of the village was chosen by Emir himself. It is funny to learn that it means “village on the coast”, whereas it is located in the heart of the mountains… or maybe is it just a pun on his own name : kustu-dorf, the village of Kustu ?
From an interview to another, Emir also calls Küstendorf under the name of Drvengrad (the wooden village), Mecavnik (the name of the neighbour village), or even Sharingrad (the multicolour village).
Emir's dream was to build a cinema school, to develop agro-tourism in this area, to give a second life to the many kilometres of railways built for film… It is now done, with also a church, an hotel, a restaurant, shops, and guest houses, for him, his family and his friends.
The film festival
On 14 December, Emir Kusturica has announced during a press conference that he was creating a cinema festival in Küstendorf. The first edition of this festival will take place from 14 to 21 January 2008, in the Underground theatre of the village. He has also announced that it would be a festival without red carpet (even thought some big directors such as Nikita Mikhalkov and Fatih Akin are invited). The winner shall receive a “Golden egg”… (note the “biorevolutionary” juice bottles on the table of the press conference…)
The festival has its own official website : http://www.kustendorf-filmfestival.org
Pictures of the first edition opening :
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The First edition of the festival opened on January the 14th. In order not to make things like the others, the opening took place in a cemetery. Emir and his guests (among who Serbian prime minister Vojislav Kostunica and Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov) have solemnly proceeded to the burial of the ”worst Hollywood movie ever done” : DIE HARD 4. Emir first apologized not have had the time to send his condolences to the producer of this film, when Nele and Dejan were acting as priests… Then the music came in and the festival started. Emir then recalled the principles of the festival : it will allow young cinema students coming from all the countries (12 countries are represented) to show their short film, outside any kind of influence. The jury was headed by Austrian writer Peter Handke.
The winner of the first edition was the film “In Between”, a 17-minute existential take on love, solitude and the fear of commitment by Spanish director Jose Iglesias, a student at Poland's national film school. He took the golden egg, first prize of the festival. The silver egg went to British documentary filmmaker Martin Hampton for “Possessed”, his fascinating study of hoarders – people who are unable to thrown things away. The bronze egg was won by Colombian director Franco Lolli, a graduate of French film school La Femis for “Like Everybody Else”, the story of a teenager's relationship with his mother as he struggles to hide his relative poverty from rich school friends. Emir Kusturica has declared he found too many courageous and experimental young directors lose their way once they embark upon the many compromises of commercial or professional filmmaking. Emir Kusturica promised more films from Africa, Asia and Latin America, next year.
Cinema School
The school has opened during summer 2005 on the theme “Art is (not) in transition”, oriented on the transition in the Balkans from communism to capitalism. The one week cinema workshop, directed by Emir Kusturica himself, took thirty young filmmaker students from the whole world. Living in the village, the “First Küstendorf class” had during the first days theoretical classes where Emir presented extracts of his favourite films, along with some scenes of his own movies, by making the students thinking of the techniques of the filmmaker.
In the second part of the workshop, the students made two short films, based on scenarii written in Küstendorf, and taking as a main character the cook of the village.
Those workshops are likely to be held again, probably during summer 2006. Information will be given here as soon as available.
Architecture prize
The village was rewarded in 2005 by the prestigious Philippe Rotthier architecture prize for the reconstruction of the city.
Ski
During winter 2007, Emir Kusturica built a ski domain near Küstendorf.
Officiel Website
The village has now his officiel website : www.kustendorf.com
Note : it is possible to book accommodation from this website
Map
Also called Drvengrad (the wooden village), the postal address of the village is :
Drvengrad Resavski put 10 31000 Užice Serbia Tel : +381 31 800 686 Fax : +381 31 800 680
The village is open to everybody, and is situated 4h driving from Belgrade. It is possible to sleep and eat.
Here under, you can find a satellite map centred on the site of Küstendorf :
Opening
The village was inaugurated with pumps and circumstances on 25th september 2004, with the première screening of Life is a miracle. We can see below Emir Kusturica with Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica.
Since then, French singer Manu Chao, prince Alexandre Karageorgević of Yugoslavia (son of King Peter II) or the Russian director Nikita Mikalkhov also came to pay him a visit in Küstendorf.
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