Guess Who's Making a Doc About Uruguayan President Pepe Mujica
Uruguayan President Pepe Mujica Is Getting a Movie
Aug. 10, 2013— -- Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica is set to direct a new documentary about the life of Uruguayan President José Alberto "Pepe" Mujica.
The film, whose working title is The President of the People, will be completed with archival footage and a series of interviews by Kusturica, a two-time Cannes Palme d'Or winner for When Father Was Away on Business and cult favorite Underground. the director is set to film at Mujica's house in Uruguay sometime in December.
The deal to make the documentary was brokered by three advisers to Uruguay's Transportation and Public Works Ministry, according to the country's main newspapers.
Last weekend, two of them, Marcelo Carrasco and Julián Kanarek, traveled to Dranouter, Belgium, where they sealed the agreement with Kusturica, who was a giving a concert with his gypsy techno-rock band, the No Smoking Orchestra. Kusturica, who had previously directed a documentary about soccer legend Diego Armando Maradona, performed on stage wearing a Uruguayan soccer jersey.
The film will focus on Mujica's life and on his government's public policies, including the recent legalization of marijuana. Although it's still not clear what will be the Serbian director's specific angle or his preferred topics. According to Uruguayan media, Kusturica took on this project because he's attracted to Mujica's humble ways and political integrity.
The documentary is set to cost approximately $3 million, sources from Uruguay's Transportation and Public Works Ministry told El Clarín,, and it will be financed by private individuals from Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil.
Argentinian production company Kaiser & Sigman, which has worked on movies such as Kamchatka and Plata Quemada, will also participate in the project, according to the film's producers.
The movie's tentative release date is the end of 2014
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