Short Film Forum

betwixt

Hybrid Documentary / Kosova
Director: Dita Xhaferi
Producer: Lendina Balaj
Production Company: Prenda Production L.L.C
Language(s): English/Albanian
Estimated Duration: 8 Minutes
Current Stage Of Development: Pre-Production

Synopsis: Caught between home and abroad, a young woman moves through the invisible pressures of family, migration, and cultural expectation. In one place, she is reminded of who she was raised to be; in the other, she is constantly asked to explain who she has become. Neither world offers complete belonging.

Through fragmented memories, intimate family moments, institutional spaces, and the repetitive movement of travel, the film explores the emotional weight of living between identities. Home is both a source of love and a place of restriction, while life abroad promises freedom but often brings isolation, bureaucracy, and the feeling of being permanently temporary.

As expectations gather around her body, choices, and future, she struggles to protect a sense of self that is increasingly divided. The violence she experiences is rarely visible or dramatic. It exists in silence, obligation, judgment, and the gradual loss of certainty about where she belongs.

Her journey is not simply about choosing between two countries. It is an attempt to reclaim dignity and define herself beyond the roles imposed upon her. In the unstable space between departure and return, tradition and independence, she searches for a way to belong without disappearing or betraying parts of herself.

Director's Biography:
Dita Xhaferi (b. 2003, Prishtina, Kosovo) is a 23-year-old filmmaker currently completing her
third and final year of Film Studies at Nord University, Norway. Her filmmaking journey began at 19 in Prishtina, where she made her first film through Kino Armata's Neo School program, a platform for emerging young voices in Kosovo's independent film scene. Shortly after, she moved to Norway to pursue formal film education, an experience that has directly shaped her practice and the stories she chooses to tell. At Nord University, Xhaferi has worked across a broad range of formats and roles, directing, writing, producing, editing, and working in camera, sound design, location sound, and set design. This versatility reflects a filmmaker who understands every layer of the craft. Her projects have spanned student films, music videos, and commercial work. As part of a student production company at Nord University, she took on real client briefs, delivering work including an animated advertisement, motion graphics for a festival, a webinar production, and a music video. The company placed first in the program's internal competition.

Producer's Biography:
Lendina Balaj is a producer, project coordinator, and communication specialist based between Salzburg, Austria and Prishtina, Kosovo. She is currently pursuing an MA in MultiMediaArt – Producing at FH Salzburg, where she is developing her practice in film production, production management, creative coordination, and audiovisual storytelling. She also studies Journalism and Public Relations at the University of Prishtina, which strengthens her background in narrative development, communication, editing, and research.
Her work focuses mainly on film and visual storytelling, with experience in coordinating student film productions, supporting production workflows, organizing teams, and shaping projects from development to planning and execution. She is interested in films that explore identity, memory, womanhood, social pressure, and personal experience through intimate and visually expressive approaches.

Support Sought From Short Film Forum:
Project development, creative feedback, mentorship, sponsorship, funding, partnerships, industry connections.