12th Kustendorf Kicks Off
Serbian film icon Slavko Štimac declared the 12th Kustendorf Film and Music Festival open tonight. The opening ceremony began with a musical piece by the Big Folk Orchestra Advahov Brothers, followed by a juggling performance by Cirkusfera. In praise of the Lodz Film School, the opening ceremony included the screening of two Polish shorts by Roman Polanski and Krzystof Kieslowski, former students of this school. Kustendorf festival founder Emir Kusturica stated that the festival remains dedicated to the idea of turning life utopias into reality and that the brains of the young and the elderly are a holy unity, adding that good films will be like winning flags which often catch our glimpse and speed up the heart rate. Serbian Minister of Culture and Information Vladan Vukosavljević noted that Kustendorf casts a complimentary light on the film culture in Serbia, the region and Europe. At the end of the opening ceremony, Štimac received the Tree of Life Award for Future Films and declared the festival open.
