Film Screening: Emir Kusturica's "Црна мачка, бели мачор" (Black Cat, White Cat)
Speakers): Cécile Tresfels
In Eastern Serbia, near the Bulgarian border, Matko (Bajram Severdžan), a small time hustler, lives with his 17-year-old son Zare by the river Danube. After a failed business deal he owes money to the much more successful gangster Dadan (Srđan Todorović). The latter has a sister, Afrodita, that he desperately wants to see get married so they strike a deal: Zare is to marry her. But none of the two care much for an arranged marriage: Zare is in love with Ida, Afrodita is waiting for the man of her dreams. The wedding ceremony thus becomes the framework of an extravagant and grotesque adventure, constantly cadenced by the enchanting rhythm of gypsy music (the project was indeed initially designed as a documentary on Gypsy music that would have been called Musika Akrobatica). This highly picturesque movie, in which an upcoming wedding ceremony affects the destiny of an entire community, dramatizes the social aspect of marriage and won the Silver Lion for Best Direction at the Venice Film Festival.