Friends on Kupusović: It Cannot Be Expressed How Much We Lost with His Passing

Family members, actors, cultural workers, artists, friends and colleagues attended the commemoration and final farewell of the prominent Bosnian-Herzegovinian director Sulejman Kupusović, who passed away on August 15 at the age of 63, writes the Bosnian news agency Patria.

The hall of the National Theatre Sarajevo was too small for all those who came to pay tribute to this director. Those present were addressed by actor Josip Pejaković, who spoke through sighs about his friendship with Kupusović.

- If there are stars in the Bosnian-Herzegovinian sky, then the brightest one is called Sulejman Kupusović. If anything gathered a million-strong audience in front of TV screens, it was your series. You extended a warm pedagogical hand to young actors. I will think of you as long as I can think, I will remember you as long as memory does not fail me. Rest in peace, dear Sulejman Kupusović – said Pejaković, among other things, in his emotional address.

Academician Abdulah Sidran said that it was Kupusović's wish that he speak today.

- The director, who is still directing even while turned to dust, wished for me to speak in the way we have been acting together for the last two years, which means a critical, social word about the state of our cultural, political, and social community, which cannot be described by any other word than catastrophic – said Sidran.

Sidran also recalled that Kupusović wrote political and social commentaries in "Dnevni avaz" and that he did so passionately, giving his all and investing all his experience, moral and artistic capital into those few pages of text.

- When I saw that on Saturday "Avaz" came out without his text, I told my family, Sule is dead. It will take a long time, many years must pass, for such a comprehensive theatrical personality to possibly appear, if ever, in a social sense, with social dynamism and a critical edge in observing social phenomena; it is hard for such a personality to appear. We have lost a lot, it cannot be expressed how much we have lost – emphasized Sidran.

Actor Izudin Bajrović, who collaborated with Kupusović for many years, said that we do not know how much we have lost.

- What he did remains, but what he would have done is missing. And that will be felt in these hallways, this foyer, this hall, and even on this stage. The crowd in the hall will be absent. Only then will we truly understand how much we have lost by losing Sulejman Kupusović, while we took him too much for granted. We took Sule for granted; we perceive people differently while they are alive – they are a threat, an obstacle, competition, or whatever we call it. And when they die, then we can call them in superlatives – said Bajrović.

Marijela Margeta Hašimbegović, a set and costume designer, collaborated with Kupusović on numerous plays, and they were also bound by friendship offstage.

- It is certain that Bosnia and Herzegovina and our city will feel his departure, and I can only promise that through memory of his work, his thoughts, and his passion for theatre, we will surely keep his memory alive and never forget him – said Margeta Hašimbegović.

The commemoration was attended, among others, by: Nedžad Begović, Nada Đurevska, Mirvad Kurić, Ivica Šarić, Admir Glamočak, Senad Bašić, Adnan Hasković, Ermin Sijamija, Aleksandar and Vedrana Seksan, and many others who collaborated directly or in any other way with Kupusović.

He graduated in theatre, film, television, and radio directing from the Academy of Theatre and Film Arts in Zagreb in 1974, and in philosophy and comparative literature from the University of Zagreb. He directed in theatres throughout the former Yugoslavia, as well as in Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey. His plays were performed in Mexico, Guatemala, France, Germany, Spain, Turkey, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Sweden, Italy, and Austria. In addition to theatre plays, he also directed television dramas and series - "Tale", "Memoari porodice Milić", "Viza za budućnost", "Zajedno", and a series of documentary and music programs. He also directed the opera "Hasanaginica", and is the author of the theatre hit "Ženski turbofolk bend" performed by the ensemble of Chamber Theatre 55.