Bosnian writer and screenwriter of Kusturica, Abdulah Sidran, dies aged 79

The author had serious health problems in 2023, which led him to no longer appear in public, and to communicate only occasionally on social networks.

Bosnian writer Abdulah Sidran, who also wrote screenplays, notably for Serbian director Emir Kusturica, died in Sarajevo late Saturday March 23 at the age of 79, local media reported. Abdulah Sidran’s serious health problems had led him to communicate only occasionally on social networks.

Born in Sarajevo in 1944, he began his literary work, particularly poetry, in the 1960s. Abdulah Sidran was also a co-writer of Emir Kusturica’s first feature film Do you remember Dolly Bell? (1981) and his second film, Dad is on a business tripwhich won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1985.

“The Bosnian Man”

“Persecution that follows the political lines of one generation is passed down to subsequent generations. It is the curse of the Balkans, the curse of our destiny which means that here… the past is no longer hot that the present“, declared Mr. Sidran during an interview given in 2011 to a local television channel.

“We will remember you forever, for your testimony about the beauty, the soul and the pride of the Bosnian man, about the values ​​that make a man a human being“, the mayor of Sarajevo, Benjamina Karic, paid tribute to him on Facebook.

A member of the Bosnian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ANUBiH), Abdulah Sidran has received a series of local and international literary awards. His collection of poetry Sarajevo coffin (Sarajevski Tabut in Bosnian), published during the 1991-1995 war, was notably rewarded with the Freedom Prize from the French Center of the Pen Club.