Emir Kusturica — Movies, Bio, Popularity, Filmography & Fame Trend

Summary

Updated 2026-06-21

One of two directors ever to win the Palme d'Or twice, and he did it with films about a boy whose father vanishes under Tito and a surreal war epic that blurs propaganda into myth. The Cannes podium loves him; the Balkans argue over him.

Biography

About

Born 24 November 1954, Kusturica began directing in the 1980s and quickly stacked festival hardware: a Silver Lion at Venice for his debut Do You Remember Dolly Bell?, the Best Director prize at Cannes for Time of the Gypsies, then Palmes for When Father Was Away on Business and Underground. A Silver Bear at Berlin for Arizona Dream and another Silver Lion for Black Cat, White Cat followed. France made him a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and later a chevalier of the Legion of Honour; he became a UNICEF ambassador in 2002. Since the mid-2000s he's lived in Drvengrad, a town he…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Emir Kusturica

Emir Kusturica

said4 Mar 2005

I just don't get it. The pigeon was already dead, we found it in the road. And no other censor has objected. What is the problem with you, English?

— In an interview in The Guardian (4 March 2005) about a British censor demanding that a shot of a cat pouncing on a pigeon be cut from his

Emir Kusturica

said4 Mar 2005

My father was an atheist and he always described himself as a Serb.

— As quoted in The Guardian (4 March 2005)

Emir Kusturica

said8 Jul 2002

That is a Medieval way of drawing history, in which they do not respect the law and want the rest of the world to respect the law. That's not possible.

— When asked his opinion on U.S. unilateralism. Znet interview (8 July 2002)

Emir Kusturica

saidundated