Keepin touch

Whether you have a question, comment, suggestion or any problem in the purview of the government, send us your message and we will try to respond as soon as possible. If your problem is not in our purview, we will forward your message to the relevant institution.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Ovation by Parisians for Kusturica’s opera Time of the Gypsies

Paris, 27 June 2007

The first opera by Serbian director Emir Kusturica Time of the Gypsies received ovation last night by the public at the premiere performance held in the Bastille Opera in Paris, which is one of the most celebrated opera houses in the world.

The Parisians, known for their sophisticated taste, applauded for more than 15 minutes before Emir Kustuirca appeared on the scene.

The opera Time of the Gypsies is in fact an adaptation of one of the most well known films by Kusturica which received in 1985 the Golden Palm at the Cannes film festival.

This opera is the crowning achievement of Kusturica in his creative work, which consists of scenes from his films being displayed on the screen, including parts of the documentary film on Maradona on which he is still working, and theme tunes which serve as original music composed by Nele Karajlic, Dejan Sparavalo and Stribor Kusturica.

The love story of Perhan (Steven Andjelkovic) and Azra (Milica Todorovic), is presented in this opera from an alter-globalist viewpoint, with the leitmotifs of Kusturica’s artistic world – Hollywood as a metaphor of spiritual fall, a West where money and profit are the main religion, and Maradona as a symbol of victory of the third world over the first.

In a statement to the news agency Tanjug, Kusturica explained that this opera is a kind of synthesis of everything he has done until now on film and music and due to that perhaps is the best way to conclude his career in music.

Praise by the public was drawn by a great team of actors which besides the leading actors included, Gorica Popovic, Ognjen Sucur, Marijana Bizumic, Dejan Sparavalo, Stanko Tomic, Zlatko Sakulski, Natasa Tomic, Katarina Mrksic, Ivana Bizumic, Dragana Stanojevic, Tatjana Nikolic, Maja Martic and Brankica Ivankovic.