Legendary Director Emir Kusturica & His Band Perform At London Jazz Festival
The London Jazz Festival will have audiences rocking in the aisles when legendary Serb film director Emir Kusturica and The No Smoking Orchestra hit town for a mind-blowing concertof gypsy punk mayhem. In a coup for the Festival, Kusturica and his troupe of musical rebels will bring the house down with a rare one-off performance at the Royal Festival Hall on Saturday, 19 November.
Emir Kusturica is best known as the acclaimed director of a catalogue of (often farcical) Balkan classic movies: Underground, Do You Remember Dolly Bell, When Father Was Away On Business, Life Is A Miracle, Black Cat, White Cat, as well as the US film Arizona Dream. Since joining The No Smoking Orchestra of irrepressible musicians in 1998, Kusturicahas taken their raucous performances to new extremes.
Novak Djoković Lines Up To Play A Serbian Hero In His Cinema Debut
Serbian tennis ace Novak Djoković could be splashed on the big screen playing national hero Nikola Tesla, if he wins the role he covets in the sequel to his country’s biggest movie smash, Montevideo, Bog Te Video. During an interview in Belgrade, director Dragan Bjelogrlic revealed to W!LD RooSTeR that Nole recently called him to ask for a role in the forthcoming film.
“We have the strong idea for Novak Djoković to play Nikola Tesla in this film, because they look very similar,’ said Dragan. “He is a big fan of the first part. He called me and said, ‘look, I would like to act in the second part’. I said, of course, you could play Tesla. We are negotiating right now but it is difficult to find free time because he is now at the top. I am not sure if it will be possible but we are all trying to make it happen. Everything is difficult.”
Serbia’s Montevideo Cast Reunites For Sequel & Accompanying TV Series
The team behind Serbia’s most successful movie Montevideo, Bog Te Video is banking on success to breed success as they get underway on the much-anticipated sequel and a TV series. First-time director Dragan Bjelogrlic has called the original cast of young actors and established faces of Serbian cinema to pick up where the hit film left off. W!LD RooSTeR was invited on set to speak with the actors and director about the film’s success and their plans for the follow-up.
Travelling by tram and bus to a dilapidated railway yard on the outskirts of Belgrade, I was ready for a lot of sitting around. Film sets are not exciting places, with a lot of waiting around in cold spaces as scenes are re-set, re-lit and re-dressed. Usually that is dead time. Not so on the set of Montevideo, where the on-screen atmosphere seeps through the celluloid to real life.
Opinions, Like Rules, Are Made To Be Challenged
In Serbia, people are naturally very opinionated. They seem to have a tendency to see things as being clean cut and without any moral ambiguity. Quite commonly their views are set in stone and any discussion, if you can get that far, will make little difference. Everything is seen as either black or white, with little breathing space allowed for the rainbow of diversity in opinions or viewpoints.
Usually the basis for such set views is not because of an evaluation of information or a willingness to see the perspective from both sides. More often it is not even borne of any insight or consideration of there being another side to the issue. At best it is because an ingrained opinion has been accepted at face value and has served its purpose for generations. At worst it is because people have soaked up the propaganda spread by interested parties, taking as gospel whatever ruling best fits their needs, values or religious leanings.
