VENICE CLASSICS - In memorial of Emir Kusturica...
...with Filmski Centar Sarajevo and Sječaš li se Dolly Bell?
by Mihaela Cenkovčan
New kids are too much expounded to commercials and technology, even if they aren’t aware of it. With the same, comes a lot of downloads and staying in on the same spot in front of the television or computer screen.
With that kind of attitude, I have a feeling that nobody wants to go to the cinema to feel the right passion and see the quality of movies. Cinemas are empty during the screening of independent movies or classics and sold out when some 3D blockbuster comes out, what a shame! Glad to be the part of those filmophiles who enjoy watching movies in the cinema and remember the classical ones when there is a chance for it. I mean, aren’t movies made to be presented to the audience on the cinema screen in order to see original images and hear original sounds (thanks to the new technology that cinema poses) on the way they were filmed?
In its program, The 70th Venice Film Festival offers the audience an amazing chance to be the part of historical cinematography. The movies and documentaries that had been already presented to the audience of the Mostra are going to be presented again. On that way, Venice Classics supports the recovery of the past.
Some of the Classic from the program are:
Hotel Monterey by Chantral Akerman Le 15/8 by Chantal Akermann, Samy Szlingerbaum Pane e Cioccolata by Franco Brusati Tian mi mi by Peter Ho-sun Chan Quién sabe? by Damiano Damani Little Fugitive by Morris Engel, Ruth Orkin, Ray Ashley My Darling Clementine by John Ford Moj drug Ivan Lapšin by Alexej German Yangguang canlan de rizi by Jiang Wen Sječaš li se Dolly Bell by Emir Kusturica White Rock by Tony Maylam Yoru no henrin by Noboru Nakamura Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence by Nagisa Oshima Higanbana by Yasujiro Ozu Nidhanaya by Lester James Peries La proprietà non è piú un furto by Elio Petri The most dangerous game by Irving Pichel, Ernest B. Schoedsack Kapurush by Satyajit Ray Mahaparush by Satyajit Ray La bête humaine by Jean Renoir Providence by Alain Resnais Le mani sulla cittá by Francesco Rosi Paisá by Roberto Rossellini Il bacio di Tosca by Daniel Schmid Vaghe stelle dell’Orsa by Luchino Visconti Let’s Get Lost by Bruce Weber Dokfah nai meu maan by Apichatpong Weerasethakul The Adventures of Hajji Baba by Don Weis
I had the chance to some of them already, but I will make an exception and say more about Emir Kusturica and his film Sječaš li se Dolly Bell!
Emir Kusturica was born in Sarajevo (BiH) in 1954 and studied at the FAMU (Prague). His first film, Sječaš li se, Dolly Bell? won the Golden Lion for Best Debut Film at the Venice Film Festival. The second, Otac na službenom putu (1985), won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and the third was again in Cannes, for the Dom za vešanje (1989), when he won the Best Director Award.
Filmography:
1978. Nevjeste dolaze (The Brides Are Coming) 1979. Bife Titanik (Buffet Titanic) 1981. Sječaš li se Dolly Bell? (Do You Remember Dolly Bell?) 1984. Nije čovjek ko ne umre, Tv 1985. Otac na službenom putu (When Father was away on Business) 1989. Dom za vešanje (Time of the Gypsies) 1993. Arizona Dream 1995. Underground 1996. Bila jednom jedna zemlja, Tv 1998. Crna mačka, beli mačor (Black Cat, White Cat) 2001. Super 8 Stories, doc 2004. Život je čudo (Life is a Miracle) 2007. Zavet (Promise Me This) 2008. Maradona by Kusturica 2013. Words with Gods (post-production) 2014. On the Milky Road (filming)
Sarajevo, 1960s. A community of people decides to form a music band to keep the youth from the streets. One of its members is Dino (Slavko Štimac), an introverted boy with a passion for hypnosis. When Dino isn’t at the attic, where he loves to spend his time during his hypnotic sessions, he hangs out with his friends, listening to music and playing chess. During the whole movie plays one truly catchy song by Adriano Celentano called 24 milla baci.
Dino gets a taste of the world inhabited by local thugs and petty criminals. However, when he is rewarded via a liaison for providing a hiding place for prostitute "Dolly Bell" (Ljiljana Blagojević), his world is turned upside down as he falls in love with her.
The film presents the street as the only authentic place in Sarajevo. Also, for the first time citizens of Sarajevo were able to identify the difference between past and present. Knowing that this movie contains their portraits and situations in which they were living before made them particularly happy because they had the chance to present their own culture all over the world.
Filmski Centar Sarajevo is a public company for film production and distribution in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The same Center possesses found footage of about 80 long feature films and over 500 documentaries including short films as well. All the films are produced by Bosnia Film, Studio Film and Sutjeska Film companies. The specific fact of the company is that all those films are produced and filmed in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the long period between 1947 and 1991.
“Because of the war and the damage that he caused and with the disintegration of Yugoslavia a big part of our film collection was damaged and destroyed. Thanks to our collection we could start the restoration some of the films in HD and 2K resolution. Sječaš li se Dolly Ball is one of them said Adis Bakrač (film director and general manager of Film Centar Sarajevo).