Belgrade - Well-known Serbian film-maker Emir Kusturica caused a mini scandal this week when he threw out a Croatian television crew and confiscated their footage after being offended by their questions, Belgrade dailies reported Friday.

"This is typical robbery and theft," said Croatian journalist Aleksandar Stankovic.

Stankovic asked Kusturica, a two time Palme d'Or winner at the Cannes Film Festival, about his ties with late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic, which enraged the director.

Kusturica stopped the interview, insulted the journalists and threw them out, confiscating their material in the process.

He later told Serbian media that the journalists "have forgotten their material" and that he will be happy to return it to them.

Kusturica supported Milosevic's policies during the 1990s wars in Bosnia and Croatia, even though he was born in a Serb-Muslim family in Sarajevo.

He is best known for his movies When Father Was Away on Business and Underground, for which he won Cannes' top prizes. (dpa)