The president of the «Spirit of Fire» Emir Kusturica is currently working on three film adaptations of Russian literature. At the festival master class in Khanty-Mansiysk, he will share his experience and his views on the film industry.
At the XXII International Film Debut Festival “Spirit of Fire”, which will be held from 23 to 25 March in Khanty-Mansiysk, director Emir Kusturica will meet participants to share the intricacies of filmmaking. “We will hold a master class where I will talk about how I created films and developed my style. I’ll talk about how and where it all came from: what films and literature inspired me. I have already been at the “Spirit of Fire” as a musician, and now I’ll participate as the president of the festival,” Kusturica said at the World Youth Festival.
Right now, the Serbian director is working on a film adaptation of two novels by Fyodor Dostoevsky — he plans to combine the plots of the works “The Idiot” and “Crime and Punishment” in one film, which will be called “Crime without Punishment.” The script of the film supposes that Prince Myshkin becomes one of the main characters and discusses the topic of the murder for love. It is already known that shooting of the project will take place in St. Petersburg and Siberia.
Emir Kusturica also plans to film the novel “Laurus” by Russian writer Evgeniy Vodolazkin. The filmmaker and the author met last October in Yasnaya Polyana to discuss the project and cooperation agreements. The plot of the novel takes place in medieval Russia in the 15th-16th centuries.
It is supposed that the third film will be an adaptation of the work of Nikolai Gogol. “Whether it will be the “Dead Souls” or “The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich,” I don’t know,” commented the director.
