Prominent Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica said on Tuesday that he likes the style of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's rule.
"The president is ruling the country with great respect and in an original way," Kusturica said at a meeting with Lukashenko, who will face his fourth presidential polls in December.
Kusturica, who is visiting the Listopad (Leaf Fall) film festival in Minsk, said Lukashenko holds the credit of not allowing the destruction of Belarus from outside.
"A system of destruction of small states, which is called shock therapy, exists today as large corporations come to a country and swallow it," Kusturica said. "But when you walk through the streets of Minsk, you see that this is not happening [in Belarus]."
Lukashenko awarded Kusturica with a prize "For the preservation and development of spiritual traditions in filmmaking" and invited the director to make a movie in Belarus.
Lukashenko said that Kusturica "cannot shoot bad films and may glorify both himself and the country."
He added that Kusturica could share his experience with Belarusian filmmakers.
Kusturica, who visited Minsk in 2008 with his "No Smoking Orchestra," will stay in the Belarusian capital until November 11 and hold a master class at the Belarusian State Academy of Arts.
MINSK, November 9 (RIA Novosti)
