Discoveries from Kosovo World Cinema

This experimental documentary depicts the tentative, complex relationship between a sister and brother as they struggle to integrate a shared human connection into pre-ordained power imbalances of the patriarchal family order. Through home-footage and tangentially-related imagery of context clues, the story will follow an incident that finally ruptures the precarious connection between the main characters, prompting the viewer to question the endurance and legitimacy of outdated traditions. Present notions of ‘manhood’ and ‘honor,’ as they figure in the youth circles of present-day Prishtina, reproduce inherited injustices, amplified through the desire-driven culture of late-stage capitalism.

Short animated film created in Akademia e Animacionit - Gen 5 (2022)

Short animated film created in Akademia e Animacionit - Gen 7 (2024)

Short animated film created in Akademia e Animacionit - Gen 7 (2024)

When his car breaks down in a desolate rural area, Noir, an emotionally lost actor, accidentally meets Anna, an enigmatic girl who walks through the landscape as if he doesn't exist. Following her, he is drawn into a strange and poetic journey, where Anna's pauses and the landscape awaken hazy memories of a lost love. As reality and memory intertwine, Anna leads Noir to an old cemetery, where he discovers that she is long dead. Confronting her grave becomes his moment of awakening, realizing that the journey was a spur to accept the pain and restore meaning to his life.

In a small village in Kosovo, Flora and Venera are two inseparable friends who spend their days playing. Their lives change when Venera receives the news that her father has decided on her marriage. Flora, who dreams of a different future, sees this as a threat to her life of freedom and the special bond with her friend. While Venera faces pressure from family and tradition, Flora tries to dissuade her from the decision, while preserving the friendship and dreams they share.

During the pandemic, a creative video edit captures the intense feeling of wanting to escape from Earth. The film is a visual journey, pieced together using stunning photographs from talented artists who freely share their work on Unsplash. Through this collaborative effort, the video explores the overwhelming desire to break free from the constraints of the world around us.

Prey serves as a metaphor for the vicious circles we tend to find ourselves in. Struggling to resist the allure, the character gives the euphoric feeling a chance. Throughout the film, she finds herself questioning the motive behind her initial temptation.

Two different schools, a building and a common life, one in a foreign building and the other in its shared home. Musicians, talents, new dreams, and hopes, wandering around and staying in improvised spaces. Where will the next destination be?

Pirlo, a boy in the bloom of youth, wants a prostitute for his birthday. Unfortunately, Pristina is not the best place for these kind of things, since it is not a metropolis. Do not worry, Pirlo will save Pristina

“Her” follows the life of Donjeta Krasinqi, a soldier in the Kosovo Security Forces (KSF) in Prizren. The film tells the story of a strong woman navigating and thriving in a male dominated field.

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.

In Prizren, in Rufai’s Masjid, love for religion and belief is being transmitted on the birthday of the prophet Ali and the Day of Sulltani Nevruz. Members of this Masjid under the leadership of Shejh and Dervishs mark this day on 21st of March and celebrate it by doing ziker, sing mevlud and read the Quran. Acts of worship in this day done by the Shejh and other Dervishs are rituals known as qeramet, while the most important ones are those with small swords. This documentary shows real act of worship.

A woman listens to and translates stories of exile which stir her soul. Like fresh running water, these stories stir up a distant memory, the pain of which is far from soothed.

Reflecting experiences of Kosovo from the perspective of a 90s kid, Recollection is an experimental documentary that explores the author’s feelings between individual and collective memory, identity and struggle. Through a collage of family footage along with mixed items of pop culture memorabilia, this experiment celebrates the collective journey in an era of oppression and resistance. In the intersection between two different realities, this video-narrative is spontaneously built and never simply over.

A story of four people developing over time. Representing a constellation of selves. Defined by who they are or what they do. Affected by choices, states and stages. Made of many layers and potentialities, of dreams and realities. A story of expectations, limits and outcomes.

A couple, Besnik and Linda live with Besnik's mother Xheva, who's partially immobile and needs constant assistance. One day they have to go to the ministry to testify that Xheva is alive, otherwise they lose her pension. The road there is not easy and will change their lives dramatically, in ways they never imagined.

After breaking up with his girlfriend, Leo has to spend the quarantine by himself. To make it easier, he chooses to use a VR headset as a distraction and enjoy outer space again.

When the municipality of Lipjan decided to remake the river that runs through the village of Janjeva, it was done without consultation with its inhabitants. We tried to get answers from the officials but couldn't get through, we were, however, able to see the construction. In lieu of a dialogue, this is our comment on what they did.

Over-construction is suffocating the landscape of an urban community.

Three individuals share their unique experiences of losing someone close. Despite their different relationships and circumstances, their stories reveal a common pattern in coping with grief.

On the way to Brezovica, two skiers reunite. Along the way, they reminisce about the years they spent together, bringing to light the overlooked problems that come with the sport.

Three different women talk about their relationship with makeup, its mundaneness, what it reflects, and how it affects them.

Found footage, visual postcards written in the 1990s on VHS, fragments of a new life abroad passed on, sent by planes or buses to Kosovo, and pictures sent back from the country. Hugs on platforms, cars leaving, weddings and birthdays. Dancing and tears: lots of tears of joy and despair. Repeatable situations create chronicles of torn lives, uncertainty, and suspended existences.

Three young people from Prishtina discuss what's it like to not be able to travel due to visa liberalization issues in Kosovo and what it means for them to have never been on an airplane.

Close-ups of people kissing. Versions of kissing and versions of involvement in a kiss. Is the kisser in the same level with the kissed one?