TIRANA, April 21 – In a sign of protest due to lack of financial support by the Kosovo government, the Prishtina International Film Festival is holding its seventh edition in Tirana with a limited number of events under the slogan PriFest in Exile.
The two-day festival which for the first time abandoned its traditional venue in Prishtina will open on Friday, April 24 with the screening of “Three windows and a hanging” movie which last year won was awarded the top Golden Gladiator award at the Durres international film festival. The movie originally titled “Tri Dritare dhe një varje” was appreciated for portraying the extreme drama and violence faced by Kosovo women during the armed conflict with Serbia in the late 1990s and the aspect of mercy and understanding.
Other projections in the festival which closes on Saturday, April 25 include “The Photo” by Jan Erik Nogisto, “Love Island” by Jasmila Zbanic, “Tranquility of blood” by Senad Sahmanovic and “Appropriate Behaviour” by Desiree Akhavan.
The festival will also hold a roundtable table on film festivals and their impact on the development of film industry and country’s image.
PriFest director Vjosa Berisha said the tough decision to transfer the film festival to Tirana came after Kosovo’s Ministry of Culture, the traditional sponsor of this event, cut funding for this year’s seventh edition by about 80 percent.
“We are very sad and discouraged by this act of our Minister of Culture, because it is another attack on the film industry of our country,” she said.
“PriFest is going in exile. We have decided that we will hold the seventh edition of the festival with the name PriFest in exile in Tirana on the original date of PriFest 7 – 24 April 2015. We will hold 2 days of the festival at the Tulla Cultural Center in Tirana where we will show a small part of our programme,” she added.
