06 July, 2021
A wonderful birthday gift for the upcoming 20th edition of DokuFest came sort of unexpectedly by our alumni Leart Rama. His short film ‘4 Pills at Night’, co-produced by DokuFest and Short Film Festival Winterthur in Switzerland was selected to compete in the national competition of 74th Locarno Film Festival. The film will be also eligible as a candidate for the European Film Awards.
Leart Rama is one of the most talented alumni of DokuFest’s film education program. As a filmmaker, he was always interested in exploring stories that focus on human emotions and situations that make people reflect on the current reality.
“Four Pills At Night” is inspired by the rave scene in Kosovo. Leart being himself part of the scene for years and seeing how young people relate to it decided to tell the story of it. “Four Pills at Night” was produced and shot as a hybrid film. The only people in the film that followed the script were the cast and crew, everyone else was invited to a free party to play themselves in the film.
Veton Nurkollari and Eroll Bilibani recall that when Leart at 16 joined ‘Kino Prizreni’ cabaret program of DokuFest years ago was a day when a young film talent was discovered.
When it comes to the film, Leart underlines “Each story I decide to develop into a film is very close to my heart and unquestionably wants to come outside of me, so it can be shared with the world. “Four Pills at Night” has been under development for three years now. It was meant to be a feature film but this is simply one part of that upcoming film. It was inspired by what happens at parties, how people connect there, how people can dance, express their individuality and how there are much more layers to a rave than music and dance.”
The producer of the film, Nita Deda who is also the former Festival Director of DokuFest said “During my time at DokuFest, I had the joy to witness Leart’s talent when he joined our film school and later led our video team. I am now over the moon to be by his side, while he flourishes, and am so proud that DokuFest and Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur have continued their support for young talent.”
DokuFest would like to thank the Short Film Festival Winterthur for the initiation of the grant scheme in support of young Kosovo talent and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Swiss Embassy in Prishtina and Municipality of Prishtina for joining in supporting this project.