16/08/2023
The last time I visited Prizren before DokuFest, my friends and I went up to the castle of Prizren and saw the mythical landscape laying bare before us. The mountain range is covered in snow and what we would discuss would be how we would spend time here during Dokufest.
Throughout the years, we meet old and new friends at this festival and elsewhere there is a cinema waiting to tell stories of the known, unknown, and everything in between.
As a bridge of connection between the screens and the audience, between those who make the films and those who work so hard to distribute them, between musicians traveling from all around the world and meeting the crew who welcomed them here in Prizren, between the volunteers and the staff working tirelessly: we witness what we will miss soon after nine days pass.
Nostalgia kicks in, and there is a certain fight against time embellished with utmost desire for moments to stay still, at basketball fields, secret bars, the open cinemas: the mornings where only a few people and the street sweepers would welcome the new day.
The same peaceful silence welcomes a fast paced programme of new imaginations, telling the stories we well know translated into exquisite imagery. But also we have to admit that DokuFest holds a strong resistance for everything that speaks in liberty, freedom and creativity.
Everytime I go to DokuFest, I see how people grow through the Future is Here programme, through DokuFest alumni taking responsibility to direct their own films, do their own research and develop programmes that invite everyone to enjoy and explore culture in a new perspective.
From the resistance of Prizren to keep Lumbardhi a cinema, to creating new spaces for the younger generation and collaborations with many prestigious festivals from all around the world, we grasp the importance of DokuFest as a bridge to communicate and connect.
Through a scroll of the DokuDaily publication I could clearly see the eagerness of searching for a brighter future. Imagining all the future, at once while working tirelessly to open spaces to host whatever will be new, no matter what it is.
In the spirit of this year’s theme, we truly cannot predict what the future will hold and we have been contemplating for over a week on how robots and AI can interfere in our lives through truth distortion and mechanization of artistic practices. But we can see our future through. Deep within us, we know that there has to be an unexpected event, a fateful crossing with the unknown so we can expand our understanding of how we live.
We hope robots can revolt and dance, protest, and tell the stories of unimaginable futures, but not unless there is somebody breathing and pressing the button.
While reflecting and taking time to dissect what kind of magic happened during DokuFest, I invite you to wait patiently for the next year with other stories, films, and newfound loves.
By: Blerina Kanxha
Photo: Kushtrim Haxha
