Emir Kusturica: I am a great supporter of Belarus

About Belarus:

"As for your country, I am a great supporter of it, because it accepts capitalism accurately, and also because little Slavic countries make great Slavic brotherhood. I think we and you have plenty of good things. So, you can state you have a supporter".

About Minsk and Belarusians:

"As I said before, this is the way all the cities in the world should look like. I like kindness on your people's faces, and a very powerful Slavic influence. And another thing, which we do not have - the combination of North and a strong personality, the power hidden inside".

About the meeting with Lukashenka:

"It was a very pleasant meeting. I remember him since the times he supported our people during bombings, and I am very grateful to him for that. It was a meeting with a really strong person. Maybe someone dislikes that but he really is a strong person. I told him I really liked the originality of this country and recounted several theories existing with regard to the countries which transfer from communism to socialism and from socialism to capitalism. According to this theory, the slower a country is transferring to capitalism the better. It is obvious this process is rather slow in your country. Maybe it's not very convenient for you, but as I am a person of the past and the future, I hope that it will be better and better for you as time goes by".

About the possibility to make a movie about Lukashenka:

"I am not sure I could make such a film. Usually I make films when I feel there is a ground for it. I am still under the influence of Dostoevsky now".

About political views:

"My political views are left, internationalist ones, I believe in good people, in utopia world, I believe in ideals as well as in morals. All these contradict the tendencies of the modern world. Call me an orthodox socialist."

About close relations with Ingeborga Dapkunaite:

"As for Ingeborga Dapkunaite - that's science fiction. It's strange as I have never been a playboy and the tabloids have never been interested in me. They confuse me with Goran Bregovic. We became friends when we both were in the jury in Cannes, and continued our friendship during shooting of a French movie. Then they invented this story which had nothing to do with me. I hope it will not damage our warm friendly relations".

About the film he is working on:

"I am working on a story connected with Dostoevsky. It consists of three smaller stories. I hope I will find both understanding and willingness so that this film would be made. However, probably without Dapkunaite. Probably... This film is about the punishment of those who love Dostoevsky. There will be three stories. The film is about a young man who wants to direct a movie "Crime and Punishment". He comes to a rich person who arrives to Cannes to buy a hotel, but decides to become a producer instead.  He sets a dilemma before the director, saying he will give him the money for the film if he kills his wife in exchange. Thus the story turns into a comedy drama. Another story is about a girl who lives in Belgrade and plays the part of Nastassia Filipauna. Something comes over her from the above, like a revelation, that she is supposed to get pregnant with the baby of Dostoevsky's grandson. So she buys a ticket , arrives to St.Petersburg, knocks at the young man's door and says "I have come here and I want to have a child with you". And this moment is complicated by the third story, the one about where Ivan Karamazau is now and how he is doing. Besides, he has become a monk. However, being an intellectual he takes off his cassock and meets with the girl who wishes to get pregnant with Dostoevsky's child. It is a very complicated story and I am not going to tell how it ends".

About popularization of the national cinema:

"The world is changing rapidly. A Japanese philosopher Fukayama said it was the end of history, some 20 years ago. This was because of the great informational and technological revolution. When Fukayama mentioned the end of history, there occurred a big crisis and the history got back. This is how it happens with big and minor peoples. Corporative capitalism is the 4 companies which own the world - McDonalds, Coca-Cola and some other. This was what Fukayama said when he claimed there was no history anymore. The history got back, as well as the peoples and the idea of the word's variety. Thus, protection of national cultures is in the hands of small countries. There are two concepts in the world now: the old European one, which says national culture should develop, and the American one, according to which there's no need for culture at all. The point is, which concept suits us more.  This is fundamentally connected with the development of a human being. A human being should be identified, he is not a sky-scraper or something. We should be idendified with something of spiritual origin, not the money one. And our vision of freedom should correspond with Berdyaev's views, who said freedom is difficult, slavery is easy.  We all can become the fans of the "Avatar" movie, but why if we have "Andrej Rublyov". The question is, which part of our personality is covered by "Avatar", and which one - by "Andrej Rublyov". Which of the two movies represents the poem of freedom? Definitely, not "Avatar", but possibly - "Andrej Rublyov".  

About "The Master and Margarita":

"They say two people tried to make a movie basing on "The Master and Margarita" and died. I think I should avoid such a possibility. It's a big project. The question is, whether such a great literature work can be the basis of a great movie. Even if the movie is great, it won't necessarily be taken as such. I think this is one of the greatest novels ever written. When they make lists of the greatest literature works they usually omit this novel, but it is on the top of my personal list".

About his own city:

"I have made my own city from woods. Many people call it an "incorrect" village. This is the city which has all the features of the Ancient Greece. It is the city with a cinema, a church, a store, a public bath, and an amphitheatre. We produce milk, cheese and fish and make juice, because I called it a city. We have no Coca-Cola in our city.  I am the Mayor. There's no election, no democracy there. We simply love each other so there's no need for democracy. The style of governance can be called a "sweet dictatorship". I think the future of the world lies in this governance style. There are two variants of the world's development: totalitarianism as the last stage of capitalism, or the rule of China. Thus I think the future belongs to the "sweet dictatorship". 

"It is a large territory where 100 people work. People come there to conduct seminars, festivals. My village is a social arena which hosts events, but the citizens change".

About the family:

"My family dislikes it when I tell about them. However, Stribor is now in gym, and on the whole he is working on his record. My daughter Dunia finishes the drama faculty and is writing a very interesting drama right now. It is about an Englishman who has been transplanted a Serbian heart".