Küstendorf Explained

Küstendorf
Native Name:Кустендорф
Other Name:Drvengrad (Дрвенград)
Mećavnik
Мећавник
Native Name Lang:sr
Settlement Type:Village
Pushpin Map:Serbia
Pushpin Map Caption:Location within Serbia
Coordinates:43.7956°N 19.5081°W
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name: Serbia
Subdivision Type1:District
Subdivision Type2:Municipality
Subdivision Name2:Užice
Founder:Emir Kusturica
Unit Pref:Metric
Population Density Km2:auto
Timezone1:CET
Utc Offset1:+1

Küstendorf (Serbian: {{lang|sr-Latn|Kustendorf|italics=no) also known as Drvengrad (Serbian: Дрвенград|lit=Timber Town, pronounced as /dř̩ʋeŋɡrad/) and Mećavnik (Serbian: Мећавник, pronounced as /mětɕaːʋniːk/), is a traditional village that the Serbian film director Emir Kusturica built for his film Life Is a Miracle from 2003 to 2004. It is located near the village of Mokra Gora in western Serbia, in the administrative area of Užice. Kusturica was the 2005 recipient of the Philippe Rotthier European Architecture award.[1]

The idea

Emir Kusturica stated:

Village

left|thumb|250px|Overview of the entire Drvengrad villageKüstendorf is a word play on German "dorf" (village) and Kusturica's nickname, "Kusta". Also, "Küste" is German for coast. Kusturica has also been known to call it Mećavnik, which is the name of the neighbouring village.

Küstendorf has a library, named the Ivo Andrić Library and an artist gallery named Macola in honor of sculptor Dragan Jovićević (it was previously known as Anika, after a character from Ivo Andrić's prose).

There is the Stanley Kubrick Theater, a sports hall, a restaurant, a cake shop, as well as a souvenir shop and finally. The main house, which houses a cinema-hall in the cellar, a living room, a guest room, a closed yard, a swimming pool, a gymnasium, a sauna and private rooms for the Kusturica family. The middle of the village marks the Serbian-Orthodox Church dedicated to Holy Sava.

Nearby is also a ski slope with four trails, as well as a hotel named Mladost (Youth).

The streets in the village bear the names of various individuals that Kusturica holds in high esteem or finds to be personally significant: Nikola Tesla, Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Diego Maradona, Miodrag Petrović Čkalja, Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, Joe Strummer, Novak Djokovic, and Ivo Andrić, after whom the main street is named.

Film and music festival

Since 2008, the village hosts the annual Küstendorf Film and Music Festival,[2] which showcases films and music from all around the world. The festival is known for not having a red carpet as well as none of the popular Hollywood festival artifacts.

In 2010, it was visited by actor Johnny Depp. During his visit, a statue dedicated to him was unveiled.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the festival wasn't hosted in the year 2021. The festival was held in 2022 from May 6 until May 10.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article6204868.ece Movie-maker, musician, architect: Emir Kusturica is coming to London
  2. http://www.kustendorf-filmandmusicfestival.org INTERNATIONAL FILM AND MUSIC FESTIVAL KUSTENDORF