21 February 2015, 11:05 GMT
The Ministry deems as “inappropriate” the July 28 concert by Kusturitsa and his No Smoking Orchestra, in commemoration of the millennial anniversary of the death of Kievan Prince Vladimir the Great, for fear of possible “provocations”.
The winner of two Palme d’Or awards at the Cannes Film Festival, a bass guitarist and the founder of the Emir Kusturica & The No Smoking Orchestra, Emir Kusturica is a strong supporter of Russia and Crimea’s 2014 reunification with Russia.
In December 2014 he said he wanted to shoot a film in Crimea.
In April the Ukrainian authorities canceled a concert in Kiev by Serbian musician Goran Bregović and his Wedding & Funeral Band due to the fallout from his decision to play in Crimea in March.
Bregovic composed soundtracks for Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica's movies and wrote music for such varied artists as Iggy Pop and Cesaria Evora.
