Iran cinema has developed strongly in recent years and “competently managed to stand atop the world,” remarked renowned Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica in a meeting with Iran’s cultural attaché to Belgrade Mahmoud Shalouei, in the Serbian capital last week.
Praising the independence of Iran cinema, Kusturica spoke of Asghar Farhadi’s ‘A Separation’, which won the Oscar for the foreign language film in 2012, as the best example of Iranian content-based productions, known for their themes on family, humanity, and moral issues, MNA reported.
“The movie is an art work with a cultural identity which carries a message for the viewers to commit to traditional values and family ties,” he said adding, “deep in the layers of the film, I can feel it depicts resistance to the apparent glamour of the West and is indifferent to the superficial comfort and well-being of the western world,” he said.
Kusturica who could not come to the 33rd Fajr International Festival (FIFF), April 25-May 2, due to lack of time, promised to travel to Iran and attend the event next year. He also invited Shalouei to participate in the next edition of Kustendorf International Film and Music Festival as a special guest. Directed by Kusturica, the annual festival is held in Belgrade every January.
Shalouei presented the Serbian filmmaker a copy of the ‘Persian Painting Masterpieces’ and elaborated on the origins of this art in Iran. Persian painting has several branches, most notably the classical art of Persian miniature.
Emir Kusturica (born in 1954 in Sarajevo) is a Serbian filmmaker. He has been recognized for several internationally acclaimed feature films. He has twice won the Palme d’Or at Cannes for ‘When Father Was Away on Business’ (1985) and ‘Underground’ (1995).
