TIRANA, July 22 – Albania is participating with seven documentaries and short films in this year’s DokuFest, Kosovo’s biggest international film festival held in the historic town of Prizren, just 18 km from the Albania-Kosovo border.
Migration is the central theme of this year’s festival which will feature 228 films from 43 countries in six competitive sections from August 8 to 16.
A record number of films made in Albanian, both by filmmakers living and working in Kosovo and Albania will be showcased during the nine-day festival.
The festival will pay tribute to one the world’s greatest filmmaker, America’s Albert Maysles, with the screening of six of his films, including landmark films such as Gimme Shelter and Grey Gardens as well as his last two films, Iris and In Transit.
“DokuFest is returning with yet another eclectic programme of films that is sure to amaze, move, question and surprise,” says Veton Nurkollari, the artistic director of DokuFest. “We are delighted to be able to present works of highest quality, both from emerging filmmakers and masters of the craft, to our growing audience”.
Albanian documentaries and short films:
SkaNdal
Directors: Elton Baxhaku, Eriona Cami, Albania, 2014, 64 min
SkaNdal is the first ever long documentary about the LGBT movement in Albania. It shows an amazing history of how a social and political movement in Albania can start, can move on and get to the heart of the society. The experience of smart and courageous people who started the LGBT movement and of those who found and dedicated their lives to this movement. A tribute to those LGBT people who were persecuted, destroyed and never lived a life under communism and an open call for those who are still afraid. SKA (non) NDAL (stop) – two words in Albanian for the documentary that challenges two different worlds…
The Time of a young man about to kill
Director: Neritan Zinxhiria, Italy/Albania 2015, 20 min
In the mountains of northern Albania, a young man seeks revenge for his father’s death. The murderer has disappeared a few months ago and the police are still looking for him. The young man kidnaps the killer’s only son and raises him up until he reaches his 16th birthday, when according to the Kanun, the Albanian law of revenge, a child becomes a man and is allowed to kill or to be killed.
A Political Care
Director: Ermela Teli, Albania/Sweden, 2014, 18 min
The force of prejudices and racism threatens civilization, as the goal of discrimination means to fight against the other, rather to meet the others. A documentary about Roma people.
Music Box
Director: Ishela Koksi, Albania, 2014, 13 min
Selena, 23 years, is a student in a ballet school in Bulgaria. It is almost the end of the school year, and preparations for the final representation are very important for all. Facing as well a love affair with her ballet partner, which seems to falter, she feels desperate. At night, Selena works as stripper at a night club. This job assures her a lot of money, so that she can even send some to her ill-left-alone father in Albania. A phone call from a woman, Mina, around 55 years old, disturbs Selena.
The Illage
Director: Arian Dalladuku, Albania, 2014, 15 min
A man and a woman return from America to send flowers to man’s parents graveyard in Albania. The story is based on true facts that happened in Albania and its theme is based on loss of identity.
Immigrant Journal
Director: Gazmir Lame, Albania/Kosovo 2015, 28 min
When a twenty-three year old Kosovar man attempts to illegally migrate to the European Union, an Albanian filmmaker decides to follow him on his journey. On the way, the doc maker reflects on his own past and the intentions behind the film he is making.
Under the Veil
Director: Entela Hoxha, Kosovo/Albania, 2015, 15 min
Ajshe is the same age as my grandmother. Ajshe’s story is nearly identical to the story of most women her age. In the past, the present and the future, one has many choices but when it comes to marriage, there can be only one.
