Emir Kusturica

• Emir Kusturica has recently been into Caucasus. In Krasnodar, he was made a “Cossack”, after an initiation ceremony (drink rakia on a sword, kiss a horse and then ride it), which the director passed with success. Then, after a move in Ossetia, it was once more question that Emir Kusturica makes a documentary on the conflict between Georgia and the separatist region. But Emir Kusturica has just made clear into a newspaper that he is bounded, for the next four years, with the contract for the film Pancho Villa, which prevents him to make this documentary. It is thus very likely that this project stays in thedrawer.
• Emir Kusturica has ordered a life-size statue of Johnny Depp, as in Pirates of the Caribbean. The actor reportedly liked the idea, and then he was asked for his exact body measurements. Emir : ”I laughed yesterday when I got the measurements of his body. If I was a tailor it would probably be normal for me, but I was really surprised when he sent me the dimensions of his head, forehead, shoulders, waist and other body parts. I can imagine how many women would like to know these dimensions.”. The statue shall be unveiled at next Küstendorf Film and Music Festival, next January, where a retrospective of Johnny Depp's films will take place, in his presence. The statue will be set on square Andreï Tarkovski. The sculptor will be Serbian artist Dragan Nikolic Baja.
• Emir Kusturica will receive on 21 January 2010 the “Alexis II” prize of the International Fund of Unity of Orthodox Peoples. by Kiril, patriarch of all Russias, in the Christ-Saviour Cathedral of Moscow. Emir Kusturica was granted this prize for “his incredible work in favour of the unity of orthodox peoples and for his promotion of Christian values in Social life”.
• For the 10th anniversary of the group, the Cultural Center of Serbia in Paris organises a photo exhibition of Dragan Teodorović “Zeko” on the No Smoking Orchestra. Opening of the exhibition will take place on 07/11, with Dr Dušan T. Bataković, ambassador of Serbia in France. Emir Kusturica : ”Zeko proposes here photos taken from the last ten years spent through the world with the No Smoking Orchestra, in the heart of all the greatest theatres open to rock music and to all sorts of music, including this one, which is very difficult to define… the music played by the “No Smoking Orchestra”. What is special in art and the documentary approach can be found into these photos. When you're in the position of shooting someone who is the source of an event, then the pictures can be great… You can here observe the faces in particular expressions, and, what is very well made under this rock & roll perspective, the capture of the light and the frame which reproduces a unique impression. Zeko is almost the best chronicler or rather the only chronicler of a long and beautiful friendship, as I like to say.”
• No Smoking Orchestra : the tour continues. It is also said that the the Zenith show in Paris, the No Smoking will be accompanied by the group “Vrelo”, as well as Milica Todorovic and Stevan Andjelkovic, the protagonists of the Opera "Time of the Gypsies". Here are the new dates of the tour :
  • 13/11 : La Havana, Cuba
  • 15/11 : Caracas, Venezuela
  • 29/11 : Banja Luka, Republika Srpska, Bosnia & Herzegovina
  • 15/12 : Toulouse, Le Phare à Tournefeuille (France)
  • 16/12 : Bordeaux, Espace Médoquine (France)
  • 19/12 : Paris, Zénith (France)

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