05/08/2024

The National Category begins today its competitive session at DokuFest in Prizren with the selected films portraying themes of migration, movement, grief, social inequalities and experimental approaches in the cinematographic sphere. With directors from Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia and the diaspora, the themes are often connected not only in the shared experiences of coming from the same area, while their language is shaped by time and context, the audience must be prepared to sit and see authentic performances, personal and intimate.

The means with which the directors of this category reflect en masse come condensed from time, either between the use of archives, either from the deconstruction of social phenomena into alternative personal narratives, or from discussions in a meta plan of the importance of using images by putting the focus that artistically one can think about the image as a characteristic object in our contexts, this category finds a common thread: that of research into perspectives that come internalized and consolidated that exceed local narratives.

We start with the film Burners directed by Aulona Fetahaj, we follow Mustafa and Reda, two young people who are stuck in the backseat of a car while trying to legalize their stay in Europe. Their journey is fraught with difficulties between their identity in the countries they have left and the annihilation of this identity in the country they desperately want to live in. The issue of identity, with all the emotional nuances, constitutes the main axis of the subject and creates a sensory effect that invites you to see their journey as a reflection of what the stories of thousands of young men and women have gone through with the desire for a better future.

Then we continue with the film Dielli directed by Dritëro Mehmetaj: the relationship between son and father that changes the structure of responsibilities, exchanging clarity, authority and ways of being where anxieties, kidnappings, dissatisfaction with life and loss are channeled.

Like a Sick Yellow, directed by Norika Sefa, comes to the category of national films with a revisiting of the family archive, reworking the form with which the memory and feelings of the past are preserved, finding a visual language which more and more often approaches the processing of the way myths and visual processes are created between repetitions, retakes, retellings, interruptions on how we think and see the family in the film in the field between simple life and the collapsing circumstances of history.

A Short Trip by Erenik Beqiri, who comes with another short film, introduces us to Klodi and Mira on their trip to France for a purpose that captures the lymph of the subject giving it tension and suspense waiting to be discovered the future of the couple's relationship, as Mira stays in France, to marry a stranger, to obtain French citizenship, while Claude remains in suspense and anxiety from this whole enterprise, which in fact resembles many ordeals others from time to time.

Those Sweet Murky Waters, directed by Driant Zeneli, brings history reimagined by proposing a way to tell the story of the life and activity of the scientist Sabiha Kasimati, who was executed by the Albanian totalitarian regime in 1951, with other Albanian scientists, with the claim of carrying out an attack on the regime. But in this paper, we see the subject of Sabiha's work, which he worked for all his life.

Workers Wings directed by Ilir Hasanaj brings the stories of three physically injured workers in the workplace. Hasanaj's visual work is sensitive, emotional and delicate, allowing the narrative to overflow, leaving room for investigation into all the backstory and events, while we see only the consequences of mistreatment and the seriousness of the issue of rights and the urgent need for security and stability for all workers.

The quality of image, directed by Sezer Salihi, presents a visual investigation of how pixelated images find a form of comfort in the direction and direction of how information is constructed and conveyed, ways of life, and how the world and the street are translated into statistics. and production of knowledge, while the image itself is haunted by the acquisition of functions that exceed its own quality, and not just at the (anti)aesthetic level.

How long will you stay? directed by Jasmin Sighn Rai and Arnit Likaj bring back a reflection on the age-old question addressed to immigrants returning to their homes, thus creating a panorama of thought and reflection on transition, belonging and identity.

Dom Juan directed by Hekuran Isuf tells the story of Ayman and Bilal as they try to build a fast life by stealing from various money exchanges while lying to girls, until bells ring out that the mess Ayman is walking into doesn't always have a successful end. The music tolls the narration and becomes a veil for the character, a mirror of sorts and alas its own wake up caller.

Fran and Verka: or a usual day in the village, directed by Sovran Nrecaj, finds the characters of the film in their house, from which they have never moved. Amidst memories and evocations of events that build the flavor of home and youth, we see the characters in their physical loneliness that overlaps and contrasts with what the future might have been.

remember2.human, directed by Durim Klaiq, presents an experimental composition with dystopian elements on a momentum in which it is excited by what is forbidden to remember. Paying attention to Tirana and Pristina, both capitals with heavy histories and in the field of collective memory reconstruction, Klaiqi offers a view in contrast, or what can happen beyond the fast pace that sums up the past, in a myth .

Roundabout directed by Bekim Guri draws a narrative about the corrupting nature of man and between the mechanization of truth and lies, the power of suggestion and the anxiety of waiting.

In this category we find the film shemortelle by Shelbatra Jashari, a fiction based on the idea of ​​retelling death, from the moment it happened. Shelbatra Jashari's imagery offers a compelling atmosphere that creates a new world, new language, new articulations.

Finally, in this category, the DokuFest audience will have the opportunity to see the film Sign by Erblin Nushi, which emphasizes the ways in which women in our society take back with them long-standing patriarchal models and carry them with them between generations, and when one of them wants to reclaim her name and identity, a wall of customs, flows and traditional ways of life intervene in her life, articulating these angers into symptoms of the fading of close human relationships

With the launch of the national film competition category, it can be said that the competition is strong, but what is even more important is that these films present a diverse reflection of the new generations, who have turned the lens of visual narratives to family settings. , social, community with a meticulousness and sense of individuality that protected their individual language. But what is more important is that our stories are finding their place on the screen and restoring the charm of telling stories, performing it as an important cultural act.

To watch the films, go to the Schedule section on the DokuFest website.

By: Blerina Kanxha