26 July, 2024
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb by legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick is set to open the festival on Friday, August 2nd, at the Lumbardhi Open Air cinema and following the opening ceremony.
Stanley Kubrick’s painfully funny take on Cold War anxiety is one of the fiercest satires of human folly ever to come out of Hollywood. The matchless shape-shifter Peter Sellers plays three wildly different roles: Royal Air Force Captain Lionel Mandrake, timidly trying to stop a nuclear attack on the USSR ordered by an unbalanced general (Sterling Hayden); the ineffectual and perpetually dumbfounded U.S. President Merkin Muffley, who must deliver the very bad news to the Soviet premier; and the titular Strangelove himself, a wheelchair-bound presidential adviser with a Nazi past. Finding improbable hilarity in nearly every unimaginable scenario, Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is a subversive masterpiece that officially announced Kubrick as an unparalleled stylist and pitch-black ironist.
Following the awards ceremony, the festival will close with the screening of Rrugës, the latest short film by acclaimed Kosovar filmmaker Samir Karahoda.
Inspired by true events, a filmmaker and his son, Miron (13), collaborate on a script that weaves their personal experiences and autobiographical elements with broader concerns about their country.
As they head to the airport to pick up a gift from the son's godfather, they encounter bureaucratic hurdles that hint on the stagnation of political and social progress in their homeland. This brief journey evolves into a profound exploration of their bond against the backdrop of societal challenges and the uncertainty looming over their future.
