OSCE-supported Kosovo film festival continues to gain popularity
The picturesque town of Prizren in southern Kosovo was an exciting place to be this August. Now in its seventh year, Dokufest - Kosovo's biggest documentary and short film festival - was the most popular yet, attracting more than 4,000 regional and international artists and fans.
Veton Nurkollari, Dokufest 2008's programming director, was particularly busy this time. "It was tough," he says, referring to the job of selecting 139 out of 650 entries to be screened this year, all competing for ten awards.
"More than 70 per cent were documentaries covering a range of themes, but they all dealt with real life problems." Film-makers from 40 countries applied to take part in the event.
From 4 to 10 August, films were screened at two improvised outdoor cinemas at night, and during the day, fans crowded into the indoor cinema at the Prizren Cultural House.
Make film, not war
People in Prizren, which has a population of about 170,000, are proud of their festival and they warmly welcomed guests no matter where they came from. "It is a great pleasure to host a cultural event such as this," says Bashkim, a local resident.
More than a hundred volunteers gathered each morning at "Dokucity" to show guests around the town. Besar Haxhia was one of them: "Dokufest makes me feel alive," he says. "We met people from other countries and it was exciting to get to know the artists." Posters, leaflets and T-shirts with Dokufest logos could be seen everywhere, and fans packed into the crowded coffee bars, especially late at night.
This year's event was a first for Teru Kuwayama, a photographer from New York who recently opened an exhibition at the city's old Hammam (Turkish bath), displaying 20 photos from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Kashmir. Normally he does not like festivals because he finds them too big and corporate. But Dokufest is a young festival that exudes a different kind of energy for him.
"I had a good time in Prizren and hope to come back next year," he says. "It was nice to be in Kosovo not to cover a conflict for once, but for a festival. I wish all the journalists who covered Kosovo during the conflict could have witnessed the joyful atmosphere."
Ilir Harxhi, a film director from Albania, was also participating for the first time: "Dokufest is an excellent project," he says, "and a very good opportunity for local filmmakers in particular."
His short film 'Shkallët' (Stairs), set during Albania's transitional period in the 1990s, is about a man who cares only for money and constructs a twelve-story building with no regard for standards. The man only realizes how many problems he has caused other people when he gets sick and needs to be carried in a stretcher through the narrow stairs that he has built himself.
From Cannes to Prizren
Nurkollari considers this year's festival a big success. "Films that won awards at other international festivals also entered," he says. "Two Cannes Film Festival winners were shown, 'Blind Loves', a documentary by Slovakian director Juraj Lehotsky, and '2 Birds', a short film by Icelandic director Runar Runarsson."
According to Nurkollari, finding donors was the hardest work. "Most of our energy was dedicated to fundraising. We're now looking for donors who can support us throughout the year."
He thinks that more training should be planned for Kosovo's filmmakers because learning how and what it takes to make a film, and how it can best serve the public, are important. "We're trying to make Dokufest a year-long activity," he adds.
Dokufest started in 2002 with the support of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo. Back then, a mere 15 films from Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia competed for three awards. Nurkollari proudly notes that the festival's rise in popularity is a sign of its success.
Promoting democracy, human rights
This year's awards included Best Feature Documentary, Best Short Documentary, Best Balkan Documentary, Best Short Film, Best Animated Film, the DokuKids Award and the Audience Award.
The OSCE-sponsored Human Rights Award, offered for the second time, was won by "Upstream Battle", a film by German director Ben Kemps. His film is about the fight of Native Americans in Northern California for their fishing rights and their culture's survival. In 2006, Bulgarian director Adela Peeva won the OSCE award for her film about the different meanings of a song from one Balkan country to the next.
"Film is an ideal tool for education in democracy, human rights and respect for diversity," says Ida Nikolovska, the OSCE Mission's Programme Officer. "The beneficiaries are the people, regardless of their ethnicity," she says.
Since Dokufest has become a tradition, the question of its full institutionalization has been raised. "It needs more than voluntary initiatives," says Nurkollari.
He hopes that the Kosovo Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, and the local government in Prizren will consider taking Dokufest under their umbrella. "Our aim is to turn Prizren into a film centre for the region," he concludes.