Don't Copy the West: Participants of the Znanie.Pervye Marathon Received Valuable Advice from Emir Kusturica

Movie director Emir Kusturica spoke at the Znanie.Pervye educational marathon, which takes place from 2 to 6 March during the World Youth Festival in Sirius. The conversation of the famous movie director with young people took place on the third day of the marathon of the Russian Znanie Society in the Yamal Pavilion of the World Youth City. Young people listened with enthusiasm to the maestro, who communicated with the audience in Russian for almost the entire lecture.  The audience actively asked questions, thanked him for his movies, and even invited Emir Kusturica to take part in the festival "Shukshin Days in Altai".

During the meeting, he spoke about the formation of his artistic outlook during his childhood years, which took place on the outskirts of Sarajevo.

"The period of childhood is the most important moment of our life, and we realise this closer to the end of it. The speed at which I comprehended existential moments as a child was tremendous.  Gypsies lived near us, and I observed the very essence of their life, which was not rich at all. You could say that all my movies are about marginal characters, about people of the periphery. My dramaturgy has always been mosaic and close to the truth," Emir Kusturica shared.

The director said that he never judged his characters and at the same time he never considered making a film an easy task.

"How can artistry be fun? It is very hard work that can be compared to going over a mountain. Writing a script is a real battle with yourself," says the director.

In addition, the audience had a unique opportunity to personally ask the maestro a question. Marathon participant Victor from the Krasnodar region asked the director's opinion on the future of Russian cinema.

"Russia has very good conditions for the development of culture: you have many wonderful writers, directors. Unfortunately, today many young directors make imitations of Hollywood movies, forgetting that Soviet cinematography was the best. You had Pudovkin, Tarkovsky, Dovzhenko, from whom I learnt the poetics of film. You must be authentic, not copy the West, but follow your original path. Nowadays everyone thinks you have to be successful. But the success of my films is that I always thought – you don't have to be successful," Emir Kusturica stressed.

Many young people wanted to know whether it is possible to repeat or continue the most popular film works of the master, such as "Black Cat, White Cat", "Life as a Miracle". Emir Kusturica answered confidently that he does not shoot sequels, and in general, starting work on a movie, it's like playing roulette, not knowing what the outcome will be.

At the end of the meeting, the famous movie-maker shared his plans for the future. He intends to make several movies based on books by Russian writers, and filming will take place in Russia. For example, now the maestro is working on the script of the film "Crime Without Punishment", combining lines of two novels by Dostoevsky in the plot. Next in the plans – to shoot a movie based on the novel "Laurel" by Evgeny Vodolazkin. There are other plans, about which the director only hinted briefly, listing the literary sources that inspire him: Zakhar Prilepin's novel "The Abode", novels by Chingiz Aitmatov, works by Alexey Salnikov.

In addition to bright and lively dialogue Emir Kusturica received an invitation to take part in the festival "Shukshin Days in Altai" — this event is held annually in the village of Srostki, the birthplace of Vasily Shukshin. The maestro said he was familiar with Shukshin's work and responded favourably to the proposal. 

The meeting took place at the "Znanie.Pervye" marathon as part of the "World of Opportunities for Everyone" track, dedicated to opportunities for young people in Russia, career guidance, entrepreneurship, creative industries, sports, cyber sports, and success stories.

The "Znanie" society is a general partner of the educational program of the World Youth Festival, and the educational marathon "Znanie.Pervye" is one of the main events of this program. The most striking presentations of lecturers can be seen on the 24-hour media channel Znanie.TV.

On 4 March, the third day of the "Znanie.Pervye" educational marathon, the lecturers of the thematic track included Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Denis Manturov, Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation – Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, and many other prominent people.

The educational marathon takes place in Sirius from 2 to 6 March and covers six sites of the World Youth City — the WYF International Airport, pavilions "Yamal", "Nizhny Novgorod", "Kazan", "Belgorod", and "Moscow". The tracks of the educational marathon are consonant with the meanings of the Festival: “Responsibility for the fate of the world”, “Multinational unity”, “A world of opportunity for everyone”, “Saving the family for future generations” and “We stand together with Russia”.

Alongside the educational marathon "Znanie.Pervye," within the educational program of the World Youth Festival, the "Znanie" society organized the intellectual tournament "Znanie.Igra" with participants from different countries and the lecture series "Znanie.Kino", where viewers could watch legendary Russian films and discuss them with famous actors and directors. For the Festival participants a multimedia exhibition of the National Photo Contest Znanie.Russia will work, where they will be able to see the main achievements of Russia in the XXI century and immerse themselves in their atmosphere with the help of augmented reality technology.

The World Youth Festival shall become a platform for communication between young people from Russia and other countries. After the completion of the events on the Sirius Federal Territory, Russian Znanie Society will continue the educational line of the World Youth Festival from March 10 to 17 within the framework of the regional program WYF 2024, which will cover all federal districts of our country.

The World Youth Festival is held in accordance with the Decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin to develop international youth cooperation. At the first meeting of the Organizing Committee chaired by Sergey Kiriyenko, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration, it was decided to hold the Festival in the Sirius Federal Territory.

20,000 young leaders in education, science, international cooperation, culture, volunteering, charity, sports, business, media, etc., including 10,000 foreign participants, will take part in the WYF 2024. For the first time in the history of the festival movement, teenagers from 14 to 17 years old had the opportunity to join the event, including 500 from Russia and 500 from abroad. 5,000 volunteers from all regions of Russia, including 228 residents of the LPR, DPR, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Regions be involved in the organization and delivery of the Festival. The organizer of the World Youth Festival is the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh), the operator of the WYF-2024 is the Directorate of the World Youth Festival.

The first federal education marathon was held in May 2021 and became a symbol of the reboot of the Russian Znanie Society. More than 850 lecturers shared their experience during the marathon.

The Russian Znanie Society traces its history back to the Soviet public organization founded in 1947 on the initiative of representatives of the Soviet intelligentsia as the All-Union Society for the Dissemination of Political and Scientific Knowledge (since 1963 — the All-Union Znanie Society, since 1991— the Znanie of Russia Society). Members of the Society were engaged in popularizing science and lecturing on the achievements of the Soviet economy and industry. In 2016, Znanie of Russia was transformed into the Russian Znanie Society. On April 21, 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the need to restart the Russian Znanie Society on a modern digital platform in his address to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.