Drvengrad is a traditional village located near Morka Hora. Kusturica built it for his film Life Is a Miracle. The name “Küstendorf” is derived from Kusturica’s nickname, “Kusta”, and the German word “dorf” (village). All streets in the village are named after people that Kusturica finds to be personally significant or holds in high esteem.
Kusturica founded the Küstendorf International Film and Music Festival in 2008. He wanted to create an event that would showcase films and music from around the world but would have none of the popular film festival attributes such as a red carpet.
Kusturica’s Küstendorf Festival is known for its total lack of glitz and glamour. The event does feature important industry guests from around the world, but all of them come to the festival because of their professional or personal relationship with Kusturica. Küstendorf has welcomed global stars such as Johnny Depp, Monica Bellucci, Audrey Tautou, Kim Ki-duk, Gael García Bernal, Jim Jarmusch, and many others.
The inaugural Küstendorf International Film and Music Festival was held from January 14–21, 2008. Guests included Nikita Mikhalkov, Cristian Mungiu, Fatih Akin, Michael Radford, and even the then prime minister of Serbia Vojislav Koštunica. The opening ceremony featured the burial of Die Hard 4.0 at the Bad Films Cemetery.
The program of the Küstendorf Festival is divided into two parts: the film program and the music program. The film program includes a film competition, special screenings (Contemporary Trends, Retrospective of Greatness, Küstendorf Presents), workshops, and other film-related events.
The festival’s film competition is open to short films from around the world. The international jury presents the Golden Egg Award (Zlatno jaje) to the best short film in the competition. A separate jury presents the Vilko Filač Award for the best cinematography.
The music program at Küstendorf features performances by artists from all over the world. Musicians and bands that have performed at the festival include The No Smoking Orchestra (Serbia), Zdob şi Zdub (Moldavia), Haydamaky (Ukraine), Global Kryner (Austria), Farmers Market (Norway), and many others.
Photo: kustendorf-filmandmusicfestival.org
