Bure Baruta
Yugoslavia / France / Greece / Macedonia / Turkey,
1998, 100 min
Shown in 1999
CREDITS
- dir
-
Goran Paskaljevic
- prod
-
Goran Paskaljevic, Antoine de Clermont-Tonnerre
- scr
-
Dejan Dukovski, Goran Paskaljevic, Filip David
- cam
-
Milan Spasic
- editor
-
Petar Putnikovic
- cast
-
Lazar Ristovski, Miki Manojlovic, Mirjana Jokovic, Sergej Trifunovic
- source
-
Paramount Classics, 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, CA 90038-3197. FAX: 213-862-0266. WORLD SALES- UGC International, 2, rue des Quatre Fils, 75003 Paris, France. FAX: 33-1-40-29-89-10
OTHER
The title of Goran Paskaljevic’s eleventh film is obviously, and tragically, a metaphor for the Balkans, that part of the world ever ready to explode. Individual destinies meet and clash one night in Belgrade in November, 1995. These sad, violent, romantic, absurd, tormented interactions are a reflection not so much of the civil wars in the former Yugoslavia but of the devastating effect they have on psyche and soul. Inspired by a play by the brilliant 26-year-old Macedonian writer Dejan Dukovski, The Powder Keg teems with unforgettable characters—a young man bringing the gift of a pair of artificial legs, a boxer who kills his best friend, a student revolutionary turned contraband and drug trafficker—and seethes with a scathing humor and a ferocious wit, all set against an ultra-noir portrayal of contemporary Serbia. Opening and ending his film with a sardonic, Cabaret-style cabaret sequence, Paskaljevic acknowledges the world as stage, and one full of sound and fury. Deeply rooted in the Serbian tradition of filmmaking with its dark pessimism and savage humor, The Powder Keg, winner of the 1998 European Critics Award for Best Film, is Paskaljevic’s greatest achievement.
—Michel Ciment
FACTOID #130
Spike Lee has attended the San Francisco International several times. He came, film reels in hand, for the world premiere of She’s Gotta Have It in 1986. He returned in 1994 with Crooklyn, which starred Oakland’s own Delroy Lindo. And in 2007 he received the Festival’s Film Society Directing Award.
