Emir Kusturica: Cannes rejected my film because I support Putin

Source: Guardian UK

The Serbian film-maker Emir Kusturica has claimed his latest movie was turned down by the Cannes film festival over his support for the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

Kusturica, twice a winner of the festival’s top Palme d’Or prize, said he blamed political bias for the failure of his new film On the Milky Road to make the 2016 official selection.

“Lately, politics has more and more often interfered with the way the Cannes film festival works,” the director, actor and musician told the Russian News Service, in comments made public by the Hollywood Reporter. “I have suspicions that someone gave an order that my film shouldn’t be accepted.”

On the Milky Road stars the director himself, as well as the Italian screen icon Monica Bellucci. Kusturica revealed he had submitted his movie a day late for this year’s festival, which takes place between 11 and 22 May. But the film-maker said he did not believe his own tardiness had inspired the Cannes chiefs’ decision, because such factors had never been a problem before. “The film was submitted, but no one even watched it,” he said.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/apr/20/emir-kusturica-says-cannes-festival-2016-rejected-his-film-over-support-for-putin

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LOL. Yet another has-been member the Putin cult spins conspiracy theories out of thin air to cover up his own failure.