Organized by Rasta International and sponsored by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, the second International Küstendorf Film Festival will be held from January 08 to 14, 2009 in Drvengrad, Mokra Gora, Republic of Serbia.
The festival’s founder, director, and programme selector is renowned filmmaker Emir Kusturica.
Dedicated to great contemporary auteurs and future filmmakers, Küstendorf Film Festival will in its second year consists of five programme segments, five festival selections:
COMPETITION PROGRAMME– Film school students from 16 countries – the Cuba, Czech Republic, Egypt, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia,Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom and USA– will be competing for the Golden, Silver and Bronze Egg awards.
RETROSPECTIVE OF GREATNESS – This year’s retrospective is dedicated to one of today’s most important filmmakers, Jim Jarmusch. The program will present four of his works: Stranger Than Paradise (1984), Down by Law (1986), Dead Man (1995), and Broken Flowers (2005).
CONTEMPORARY TRENDSwill present some of last year’s best releases. Following the screenings, the authors and actors will hold daily workshops with students from film schools and academies. Küstendorf Film Festival will be opened by Emir Kusturica and his Maradona by Kusturica.
The programme included Cannes prize-winners Gomorrah by Italy’s MatteoGarrone; Hunger by UK director Steve McQueen; Tulpanby Kazakhstan director Sergey Dvortsevoy; Three Monkeys by Turkey’s Nuri Bilge Ceylan andOliver Stone's newest film W.
On last festival day, Küstendorf Film Festival will present Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, movie directed by Zhang Yimou.
EVERGREENwill remind us of one of the best films from the 1960s –Mikhail Kalatozov'sI Am Cuba. Also, the part of this programme segment will be PéterGothár’sTime Stands Still (1982).
MUSIC PROGRAMME - After the screenings and workshops, various music bands will perform every night, such as: Haydamaky(Ukraina), Natty Bo and the TOPCATS(UK), ZdobÅŸiZdub(Moldavia),LaManoAjena(Chile), Lebi Sol (Macedonia)and Stribor Kusturica and Vrelo, The folklore ensemble Svetozar Markovic, EmirKusturicaandTheNoSmokingOrchestra from Serbia.
Aside from the above-mentioned filmmakers and actors, the Festival will host film school students all over the world, as well as other prominent guests from the film industry.