Serbia gears up for Kuestendorf film fest

BELGRADE - Agence France-Presse

Isabelle Huppert. AP Photo

International stars Isabelle Huppert and Benicio del Toro will be guests at the Kuestendorf film and music festival hosted by Serbian director Emir Kusturica in January, local media said Dec. 28.

The French screen legend and the Hollywood actor will be in Drvengard, the wooden village Kusturica built as a set for one of his movies some 250 kilometers south-west of Belgrade, where the fifth edition of the quirky festival will be held from Jan. 17 to 23.

The festival will also honor Turkey’s renowned director Nuri Bilge Ceylan and South Korean director Kim Ki-duk and screening their respective 2011 films “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia” and “Arirang.”
Other directors feted in Drvengrad in 2012 will be Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne and Iran’s Asghar Farhadi.

Some 20 movies are competing from Belgium, Britain, Estonia, Italy, Canada, France and the United States to win Kuestendorf’s Gold, Silver and Bronze Eggs.

The jury will be chaired by Iranian actress Leila Hatami and include French producer Pierre Edelman and Serbian actor-producer Zoran Cvijanovic.

Sarajevo-born Kusturica has been living permanently in Drvengrad since 2006. He is one of only five directors who won two Golden Palms at the Cannes film festival, for “When Father was Away on Business” in 1985 and “Underground” 10 years later.