Magic (Post) Realism: Time of the Gypsies (1988)

Time of the Gypsies | Directed by Emir Kusturica (Serbia)

January 30 | 7 p.m. | 301 Julis Romo Rabinowitz

The son of a soldier and a Roma woman, Perhan lives in a slum in Skopje together with his disabled sister. Their grandma raises and schools them, and their lives revolve around an accordion, a turkey, and their crafty uncle’s wiles. After falling in love with his neighbour, Perhan resolves to earn a lot of money in order to merit marrying her. With the help of his telekinetic powers, Perhan will then enter the underworld of petty crime, and his adventures will take him all around Yugoslavia.

Entirely filmed in Romany and BSC, Time of the Gypsies is regarded as Emir Kusturica’s masterpiece. Born in 1954 in Sarajevo, Kusturica has competed at the Cannes Film Festival on five occasions and won the Palme d'Or twice (for When Father Was Away on Business and Underground), as well as the Best Director prize for Time of the Gypsies. He has also won a Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for Arizona Dream, a Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival for Black Cat, White Cat and a Silver Lion for Best First Work for Do You Remember Dolly Bell?

An avid music aficionado, with the help of Nele Karajlić, Kusturica also adapted Time of the Gypsies to a homonymous punk opera which premiered in June 2007, at the Opéra Bastille in Paris, to positive reviews.

(Film running time: 2h 22min)

Program in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies | View More Events

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