Serbian director Emir Kusturica will become the chief director of the Central Academic Theater of the Russian Army. In a comment, the chief director of the Taganka Theater Yuri Muravitsky called this decision "absurd", and pianist Yuri Rozum noted Kusturica's "incredible connection" with Russia. CATRA itself stated that the date of the director's meeting with the troupe has not yet been set. The head of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Sergei Shoigu, offered Emir Kusturica to take the post of chief director of the Central Academic Theater of the Russian Army (TsATRA). The meeting between the Russian minister and the Serbian director took place on 21 February. According to the Defense Ministry website, Kusturica accepted Shoigu's offer. The director expressed his hope for successful activities in the new place and expressed his desire to preserve classical values ​​when staging performances.

“The stage of the Theater of the Russian Army has a great history and traditions. The creative plans for the new post include transferring the plots of famous films into performances, for example, The Cranes Are Flying, Life Is Like a Miracle, and others,” Kusturica said.

In the theater itself, this news has not yet been commented on: the management and artists have not yet met with the director. TsATRA director Ivan Chursin stated that at the moment there is no exact date for the presentation of Kusturica to the troupe, and the contract has not been signed.

“No one has introduced him to us yet. When there is a performance, a contract, a meeting of the troupe and the team, we will be able to give some comment. What is written on the Internet from the Ministry of Defense is the only thing that can be commented on for now. We will definitely invite everyone to the performance of the director to the troupe. There is no exact date [of presentation to the troupe, signing of the contract] yet,” he said.

Pianist, teacher and People's Artist of Russia Yuri Rozum spoke about his long-standing friendship with Kusturica. He also expressed confidence that the director's organizational skills will help him bring the theater to a new level.

“Kusturica is a personality you can talk about endlessly. We are not just familiar with him, but we are friends both personally and creatively. When the Emir is in Moscow, he always comes to me on Tverskaya, we arrange home concerts, - said Rozum. – He is also an outstanding organizer who built the whole village of Drvengrad, where music and film festivals are held. I think that with his arrival a new life of the Russian theater will begin.”

In addition, the musician emphasized Kusturica's "incredible connection" with Russia. Since 2013, the director has been holding an annual festival of Russian music in Serbia.

“Do you understand what it is like when someone announces a festival of Russian music in the center of Europe? To do this, you need to have a certain courage. But what cannot be taken away from the Emir is courage, a breakthrough, surprise and incredible brightness, ”Rozum said.

In turn, the chief director of the Taganka Theater, Yuri Muravitsky, called the invitation of a Serbian director to a position in Moscow absurd. He noted that he respects Kusturica as a film director, but does not understand his appointment to one of the leading positions in the Russian theater.

“I reacted ambiguously to this news. On the one hand, I was delighted, because this is one of my favorite film directors. I am going to do a performance based on his film “Black Cat, White Cat” at the Taganka Theater, the production will be released in December 2022. On the other hand, this news is absolutely insane in a sense. It is a little strange that a foreign film director is invited to direct the Russian theater. From this point of view, this idea sounds absurd.

I have no doubts about Kusturica's organizational skills. As they say, a talented person is talented in everything. But I don't know if he worked in Russia before. After all, we must take into account that the Russian theater is a certain subculture. However, I wish him every success in this post,” said Muravitsky.

Writer Zakhar Prilepin called Kusturica's invitation a "phantasmagoria" and praised the defense minister for his "witty decision."

“Kusturica, despite the absurdist, playful, comical content of his very different, but always great films, is a deeply conservative, traditionalist director, brought up, moreover, by Russian culture,” Prilepin wrote on Telegram.

Further, the writer called for correcting the situation in which “smart patriots are exterminated as a class”, and only a Serb can head the theater.

bbabo.Net