Kosovo Organ Trafficking Inspires Kusturica Film

Kusturica said that the film would revolve around ideas from the books of Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky but would focus on what he described as "one the biggest issues in this century". "That issue is the removal of human organs, the most brutal act and the biggest sign of a return to pagan times," Kusturica explained to Tanjug news agency on Sunday. Alleged organ harvesting in Kosovo became an international scandal following the release of a report by Dick Marty, then human rights rapporteur at the Council of Europe, in December 2010. The report alleged that some elements of the Kosovo Liberation Army, including Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, had trafficked the organs of prisoners during the late 1990s conflict. An investigation by the EU Special Investigative Task Force started in 2011, but no legal charges have yet been laid. In another case, seven ethnic Albanians and two foreigners are currently being prosecuted in Kosovo for allegedly luring poor donors to the Medicus clinic near Pristina with false promises that they would be paid up to 15,000 euro, removing their kidneys and selling them to rich transplant patients. Kusturica has spoken about the proposed movie several times over the past week, saying that his idea is to shoot most of the scenes in Russia, as the majority of the plot is set there, while the Kosovo scenes will be filmed elsewhere. "The idea for the movie is in fact a scenario that my daughter wrote at a time when we were all in disbelief about these events, and then slowly begun to understand that it is probably the biggest issue of the century," he said. He added that he will probably work on it for the next three years because "it is a big project and it demands big preparations and investments". Holding a lecture for students on the University of Nis on March 27, Kusturica said that Kosovo was a great untapped topic for literature and film. He also complained that most films present a dark image of Serbia to the world - "even Hollywood-made movies with great film stars such as Richard Gere and Penelope Cruz, and not to mention Angelina Jolie's movie 'In the Land of Blood and Honey'". He said that all these films failed because "it is impossible to base a great artwork on false facts". "Some even try to depict Serbian people as more genocidal than Germany in World War Two. It is vicious propaganda. I do not want to defend anybody's crimes, including Serbian ones, but I cannot understand how can someone compare events in WWII with what was going on during the break-up of Yugoslavia," Kusturica concluded. At the moment Kusturica is preparing to shoot another film under the working title 'Love and War', starring Italian actress Monica Bellucci as well as Kusturica himself. According to the director, the shooting of this story about a man at various stages of the war will start on June 15 and last until the end of October.