12 August, 2020


Along with all the new arrangements of this edition of DokuFest, the organizers of the festival payed special attention to the diaspora, who have made up in each edition, a big category of participants and have always been a big support for the continuation of this festival. So, for this year when it is impossible for them to be around, and be an unquestionable support for our work, in a moment where distance is a way to protect ourselves and others, DokuFest decided to have a special category for all the immigrants in Germany and Switzerland, as a way to thank them for all these years of support, and as a way to be together in distance, hoping to make them feel a little at home, even though virtually.

It is to this specific category that the “Diaspora” Package is reserved, which is available to be followed by all residents in Germany and Switzerland, from 7 to 15 August. This package contains 10 short films and documentaries, produced by Albanian artists around the world. The packages are divided in two, with 5 films each, where most of these films are aired for the first time at DokuFest, giving us the pleasure of the premiere.

The themes of the films and documentaries are strongly connected and intertwined with the daily life, with the culture that unites us all and with its problems and concerns, starting from life as an immigrant, an issue that touches and is a wound for probably every Albanian family, to the problems that families face after losing their loved ones, and up to films related to the reality we are living, which shows how a father is experiencing his son’s self-isolation as a result of the pandemic.

The themes that are included in these two packages, enable us to immerse ourselves in the issues, problems, challenges and into the joys of everyday life, they enable us to touch a little from the real life of our land and make us feel at home, even though being thousands of miles away.

By Anisa Gjini