Super 8 Stories

The documentary follows a European tour by the No Smoking Orchestra, the Balkan band in which Emir Kusturica plays guitar. There is concert footage, backstage material and brief conversations with the members. The band's twenty-year history comes in as well: fighting political censorship and staying alive through the wars in the Balkans. The tour followed their 2000 album Unza Unza Time. Emir Kusturica directed. The title comes from the method: it was shot on both Super 8 film and portable digital video cameras, and the two textures are deliberately left side by side. There is one notable guest: Joe Strummer, formerly of the Clash and a fan of the band, comes on stage and plays a number with them. It screened at the Berlin Film Festival on 14 February 2001. Who it is for: viewers who like Balkan music and Kusturica's energy. Who it is not for: anyone expecting an orderly documentary. It is a tour record, its chronology is loose and it does not lay out the band's history tidily.