Ciné-club

Thursday 18 July 2013 at 20:00
CERN Council Chamber

Black Cat, White Cat

Directed by Emir Kusturica (Yugoslavia, 1998)
Original version romany / serbian / bulgarian; english subtitles; 127 minutes

In this farce, set in a Gypsy settlement along the banks of the Danube, three generations of characters burst forth in manic and frenetic displays of charm, confusion and chaos. Garbage dump godfather Grga Pitic and cement czar Zarije Destanov, both in their 80s, remain friends even though they haven't seen each other in 25 years. Zarije's son Matko Destanov goes to Grga for a loan. Matko is double-crossed by his partner, gypsy gangster Dadan Karambolo, who demands that Matko's son, Zare Destanov, marry Dadan's small sister, Afrodita. Unfortunately, Afrodita and Zare have absolutely no interest in each other. Cute barmaid Ida and Zare fall in love and only have eyes for each other as plans get underway for the wedding of Zare and Afrodite. The wedding celebration gets underway amid numerous madcap mishaps and misadventures.  With an inspired soundtrack consisting of high-energy Gypsy music by Goran Bregovic.

Thursday 25 July 2013 at 20:00
CERN Council Chamber

Life is a Miracle

Directed by Emir Kusturica (Serbia, 2004)
Original version serbian; english subtitles; 155 minutes

Kusturica's second fim about the war in former Yugoslavia, is situated in a small town on the (then administrative) border between Bosnia and Serbia, in the wake of the Bosnian war. In the opening sequences, Kusturica maps life in the last and perhaps most grotesque phase of Yugoslav state socialism. The grandiose plans and bizarre celebrations of revolutionary achievements, industrial development, and workers' self-management are contrasted with endemic corruption and national homogenisation, heralding the imminent collapse of the system.  Life is a Miracle conveys a moving anti-war message. Reshuffling the old poetic motifs in his work, and expanding his focus on the civil war in the former Yugoslavia, Kusturica delivers a potent and inspiring love story about people who, in a time of crisis, maintain their proximity to the world of Nature.

http://cineclub.web.cern.ch/Cineclub/

par Ciné-club