The Art of a Romantic Trickster

This chapter provides an overview of the political background that has shaped Emir Kusturica's films. Generationally and critically, Kusturica is the most renowned filmmaker associated both with the old Cold War's divide and its post-1989 aftermath. His work emerged out of a context that proved to be resiliently unlike any other within the Eastern European bloc. As one of few directors capable of thriving before and after 1989 (and between East and West), Kusturica appears to have adjusted his poetic pitch multiple times, just as critics on both sides of the Iron Curtain have felt compelled to reassess their judgment about his work. In reality, the chapter argues that his productions and activities have revolved around a poetic core that, in a dialogue with pressing historical occurrences, has undergone an expansion in terms of public political engagement and intermedial reach without altering itself.