The idyllic village of Drvengrad (“Timber Town”) in Mokra Gora, Serbia, is home to the Kustendorf International Film Festival, founded and organized by visionary director Emir Kusturica (Arizona Dream). This year’s festival runs from January 13-19 and will screen 28 films from 18 different countries. Johnny Depp will be honored with a special retrospective–called “The Retrospective of Greatness,” which must surely make him blush–that includes screenings of what the Kustendorf press release calls “three of his most remarkable movies.” Arizona Dream screens on Thursday, January 14th, and is followed by a workshop with Emir Kusturica and Johnny Depp; Edward Scissorhands screens on Saturday, January 16th; and Donnie Brasco screens on closing day, Tuesday, January 19th.

As part of the festival’s opening ceremony on January 13th, Johnny Depp will be presented with an award and a life-sized bust of Johnny (reportedly in character as Captain Jack Sparrow) will be unveiled in Drvengrad. Explains Kusturica, “Johnny Depp is my great friend. [. . .] As a welcome and gratitude for all his merits in the world of film, we will reveal his bust in Drvengrad.” The friends will be working together again when Johnny plays Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa in Kusturica’s upcoming The Seven Friends of Pancho Villa and The Woman With Six Fingers. Co-starring Salma Hayek, The Seven Friends of Pancho Villa is due to film in early 2011.

The Zone thanks FANtasticJD, dharma_bum, AnaMaria and Emma for news on the Kustendorf Film Festival and The Seven Friends of Pancho Villa. You can read more on the Zone’s News & Views forum. –Part-Time Poet