Emir Kusturica

Emir Kusturica (born 24 November 1954) is a Bosnian-born Serbian film director.

Quotes

If I was English I would be very much against Putin. If I was American I would even fight with him, but if I was Russian I would vote for him.

That is a Medieval way of drawing history, in which they do not respect the law and want the rest of the world to respect the law. That's not possible.
- When asked his opinion on U.S. unilateralism. Znet interview (8 July 2002)

I just don't get it. The pigeon was already dead, we found it in the road. And no other censor has objected. What is the problem with you, English? You killed millions of Indians and Africans, and yet you go nuts about the circumstances of the death of a single Serbian pigeon. I am touched you hold the lives of Serbian birds so dear, but you are crazy. I will never understand how your minds work.
- In an interview in The Guardian (4 March 2005) about a British censor demanding that a shot of a cat pouncing on a pigeon be cut from his film Life is a Miracle

In Serbia a lot of people hate me because they want to westernise, not understanding that the western world is bipolar, with very good things and very bad things. Since they don't have experience of the west, they even believe that a western pile of shit is actually pie.
- As quoted in The Guardian (4 March 2005)

My father was an atheist and he always described himself as a Serb. Okay, maybe we were Muslim for 250 years, but we were orthodox before that and deep down we were always Serbs, religion cannot change that. We only became Muslims to survive the Turks.
- As quoted in The Guardian (4 March 2005)

There are always motherfuckers queuing up to pull you down to earth. But we must fly occasionally, we all have to feel that joy or we are nothing.
- As quoted in The Guardian (4 March 2005)

If I was English I would be very much against Putin. If I was American I would even fight with him, but if I was Russian I would vote for him.
- As quoted in RIA Novosti; Serb Director Kusturica Wants 'Evolution' for Russia. rian.ru. Retrieved on 8 May 2012.