Kosovo’s 15th annual Dokufest launches today in Prizren, Friday, August 5 and continues through Saturday, August 13. The respected event will once again present a well-curated collection of some of the most interesting work that has popped up at other international events over the course of the past year, offering local audiences a chance to sample work in various thematic strands including environmental, human rights, and music docs, among others.
Of particular note are the offerings in the Balkan Dox competition, representing nonfiction work from the region. Included here are: Mathieu Jouffre’s DRUMS OF RESISTANCE, which recounts the response to the banning of Albanian education during the waning days of Yugoslavia; Elton Baxhaku and Eriona Çami’s SELITA, a look at efforts to stop the displacement of Roma by a highway construction project; Maria Averina’s FROM CREMONA TO CREMONA, following a violin factory worker as he dreams of visiting the Italian site of the world’s finest violins; Igor Grubić’s MONUMENT, which looks at the destruction of anti-fascist monuments during a time of hyper nationalism; André Gil Mata’s HOW I FELL IN LOVE WITH EVA RAS (pictured), which filters Yugoslavian history through a woman’s projection of old films; Ivan Mandić’s YOURS TRULY, SEXYMAJA, about an infamous sexworker blogger who was rumoured to not exist; and Roland Sejko’s THE AWAITING, a meditation on Albanian history through the lens of religion.
what (not) to doc 