New York State Writers Institute - Classic Film Series

toc1.jpg 14.3 K

UNDERGROUND1.GIF 39.7 K Underground
(Il Etait Une Fois Un Pays)

December 4, 1998 (Friday) at 7:30 p.m.

Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue
(Free and Open to the Public)

(French, German, Hungarian, 1995, 167 minutes, color, 35 mm)
Directed by Emir Kusturica
Starring Miki Manojlovic, Lazar Ristovski, Slavko Stimac
In Serbian and German with English subtitles

films.gif 1.3 K
This tragi-comic political satire follows the adventures of a black market profiteer across the span of much of modern Yugoslav history. Marko (Miki Manojlovic) gives refuge in his basement to partisans fleeing the Nazis in 1941, sets them to manufacturing arms for his own profit, and keeps them working for decades by pretending the war still rages. The film received the prestigious Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1995 for Yugoslavian-born director Emir Kusturica.