The Prishtina International Film Festival, also known as the Pristina Film Festival and PriFilmFest, is a
film festival
A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upo ...
held annually in
Pristina
Pristina, ; sr, / (, ) is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city's municipal boundaries in Pristina District form the largest urban center in Kosovo. After Tirana, Pristina has the second largest population of ethnic Albanians and ...
,
Kosovo
Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
, that screens prominent international cinema productions in the
Balkan region and beyond, and draws attention to the Kosovar
film industry
The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, p ...
. It was created after the
2008 Kosovo declaration of independence. The first festival was held in 2009, and featured actress
Vanessa Redgrave
Dame Vanessa Redgrave (born 30 January 1937) is an English actress and activist. Throughout her career spanning over seven decades, Redgrave has garnered numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Television Award, tw ...
as the host. In 2015, the festival was cancelled due to a cut in funding by the Ministry of Culture of Kosovo. The 7th edition of the festival, which was scheduled to take place from 24 April to 1 May, was thus instead held in
Tirana
Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...
,
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
on 24 and 25 April and renamed to "PriFest in Exile".
History
After
its independence in 2008, Kosovo looked for ways to promote its cultural and artistic image. Vjosa Berisha "designed a project on promoting Kosovo internationally and build a better image for Kosovo." The project became PriFilmFest; Berisha served as an artistic director.
The organizers submitted a proposal for the festival for June 2009, with actress Vanessa Redgrave serving as the chairman of the board.
It was rescheduled to September. , it has become one of five active Kosovar film festivals that have emerged from 2002.
PriFilmFest posted that its mission was "to open doors of the newest country in the world, Kosovo, to welcome different cultures of the world through cinema, using it as a medium to promote open dialog between cultures and nations." It brought in international directors and producers, and promotes Kosovar films. Its organizers have stated that Kosovo should not be known solely for political events, but for its culture.
Berisha stated that PriFilmFest was inspired by the
Sarajevo Film Festival
The Sarajevo Film Festival is the premier and largest film festival in Southeast Europe, and is one of the largest film festivals in Europe. It was founded in Sarajevo in 1995 during the siege of Sarajevo in the Bosnian War, and brings internati ...
, which had "branded the city internationally."
As part of the event, the winners would each receive a statue called the Golden Goddess, which was based on "Goddess of the throne", a terracotta figure from the
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...
period that was discovered in Kosovo in 1960, and had become the city's symbol.
The PriFilmFest founders are: Vjosa Berisha, Orhan Kerkezi, Fatos Berisha, and Faton Hasimja.
PriFilm Forum
Starting with the second edition in 2010, the PriFilmFest launched a co-production group called PriFilm Forum. It consisted of seminars, workshops, and discussions designed to connect Kosovar filmmakers with those in neighboring countries. The two-day workshop in 2010 brought together filmmakers from Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia; they listened to presentations from co-production professionals, including EAVE (European Audio-Visual Entrepreneurs), Medienboard (German Film Fund), and Robert Bosch Stiftung. Producers and filmmakers from Bosnia, Croatia and Bulgaria shared their experiences.
PriFilmFest 2009
The first edition ran from 22 September to 30 September 2009. The slogan for the first edition was "The beginning...", which referenced
Humphrey Bogart's ''
Casablanca'' quote: “This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
Actress
Vanessa Redgrave
Dame Vanessa Redgrave (born 30 January 1937) is an English actress and activist. Throughout her career spanning over seven decades, Redgrave has garnered numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Television Award, tw ...
, who had worked on many charitable causes in Kosovo, hosted the event.
Berisha stated that Kosovo was trying to host events that shift media attention from politics, and that the movies in the competition include entries from the Balkans, Germany, UK and Afghanistan.
The show opened with the world premiere of
Gjergj Xhuvani
Gjergj Xhuvani (20 December 1963 – 14 August 2019) was an Albanian film director, screenwriter and producer.
His 2001 film ''Slogans'' was Albania's submission to the 74th Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, b ...
's ''
East, West, East: The Final Sprint''.
The event included both competition and non-competition films.
Six awards were presented. The event only screened one Kosovar film: ''Across the Road'' by Yll Citaku. However, the film was not qualified for the competition section, because it had been filmed in digital camera format.
The festival also fostered discussion among the filmmakers and the audience on how to help filmmaking in Kosovo.
Jury
The following people served as the jurors for the festival.
*
Isa Qosja, film director. President of the jury.
* Marcel Maiga, festival organizer.
* David Gothard, director.
* Mira Staleva, deputy director of
Sofia IFF.
*
Saimir Kumbaro
Saimir Kumbaro (born 5 May 1945 in Tirana) is a retired Albanian film director of the 1980s.
He worked in "Kinostudio Shqiperia e Re" as a director since 1970. He initially appeared as an actor in Njësiti guerril in 1969 but his first film was ' ...
, director.
Awards
Source: PriFilmFest website
and Southeast Europe website.
PriFilmFest 2010
The second edition ran from 22 September to 29 September 2010. Italian actor
Franco Nero
Francesco Clemente Giuseppe Sparanero (born 23 November 1941), known professionally as Franco Nero, is an Italian actor, producer, and director. His breakthrough role was as the title character in the Spaghetti Western film '' Django'' (1966), ...
attended.
Eva Orner, who won an Oscar for the documentary ''
Taxi to the Dark Side
''Taxi to the Dark Side'' is a 2007 American documentary film directed by Alex Gibney, and produced by Gibney, Eva Orner, and Susannah Shipman. It won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. It focuses on the December 2002 killing of ...
'', opened the event, and chaired the jury. The festival included special screenings of
Samuel Maoz
Samuel Maoz (Hebrew: שמואל מעוז; born c. 1962) is an Israeli film director. His
2009 film, ''Lebanon'' won the Golden Lion at the 66th Venice International Film Festival. He also won the award for Best Screenplay for Lebanon at the A ...
's ''
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
'',
Roman Polanski
Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a ( né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, tw ...
's ''
The Ghost Writer
''The Ghost Writer'' is a 1979 novel by the American author Philip Roth. It is the first of Roth's novels narrated by Nathan Zuckerman, one of the author's putative fictional alter egos, and constitutes the first book in his '' Zuckerman Bound ...
'',
Franco Nero
Francesco Clemente Giuseppe Sparanero (born 23 November 1941), known professionally as Franco Nero, is an Italian actor, producer, and director. His breakthrough role was as the title character in the Spaghetti Western film '' Django'' (1966), ...
's ''Angelus Hiroshimae'',
Goran Paskaljević
Goran Paskaljević ( sr-cyr, Горан Паскаљевић; ; 22 April 1947 – 25 September 2020) was a Serbian and former Yugoslav film director.
Biography
Born in Belgrade, he was raised by his grandparents in Niš in southern Serbia, foll ...
's ''Honeymoons (Medeni mesec)'', and
Jan Verheyen's ''
Dossier K''. Ten medium-length films were also presented. The Italian Embassy presented ''The Italian Retrospective'' which included five films from director
Gianni Amelio
Gianni Amelio (born 20 January 1945) is an Italian film director.
Early life
Amelio was born in San Pietro di Magisano, province of Catanzaro, Calabria. His father moved to Argentina soon after his birth. He spent his youth and adolescence with h ...
.
The slogan for the festival was changed to "Friendship continues..."
Awards
PriFilmFest 2011
The third edition of the festival was held from 24 September to 1 October 2011.
It opened with ''
The Forgiveness of Blood
''The Forgiveness of Blood'' ( sq, Falja e Gjakut) is a 2011 Albanian-American drama film co-written and directed by Joshua Marston. The film premiered in competition at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival and competed for the Golden Bea ...
'', a film by American director
Joshua Marston
Joshua Jacob Marston (born August 13, 1968) is an American screenwriter and film director best known for the film ''Maria Full of Grace''.
Born in Los Angeles County, California, he graduated from Beverly Hills High School. Marston worked in ...
, and finished at the Square 21 with a red carpet gala. The president of the jury was
Gedeon Burkhard
Gedeon Burkhard (born 3 July 1969) is a German film and television actor. Although he has appeared in numerous films and TV series in both Europe and the US, he is probably best recognised for his role as Alexander Brandtner in the Austrian/German ...
(''
Inglourious Basterds
''Inglourious Basterds'' is a 2009 war film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, starring Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger, Daniel Brühl, Til Schweiger and Mélanie Laurent. The film tells an altern ...
''), who had also submitted a medium-length film called ''Bridges''.
The slogan for the third edition was changed to "Friendship. Forever."
The second edition of PriFilm Forum was held on 25 and 26 September, connecting worldwide directors and producers with those in Kosovo. Presenters included Sarah Calderon (Karma Films), Satu Elo (EAVE), Bernd Buder (
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the fest ...
), Roshanak Behesht Nedjad (Flying Moon), David Grumbach (French filmmaker), and Elma Tataragic (Program Selector,
Sarajevo Film Festival
The Sarajevo Film Festival is the premier and largest film festival in Southeast Europe, and is one of the largest film festivals in Europe. It was founded in Sarajevo in 1995 during the siege of Sarajevo in the Bosnian War, and brings internati ...
).
Awards
Source: PriFilmFest website.
PriFest 2012
The fourth edition was held from 24 September to 1 October 2012.
Jury
The jury for the fourth edition were divided into four groups:
* Competition Program Jury: Daniela Weber, David Gothard and Blerta Zeqiri
* Honey & Blood Program Jury: David Gant, Sylvia Stevens and Barbara Lorey de Lacharierre
* Middle-Length Program Jury: Alban Ukaj, Nikola Ljuca and Igor A. Nola
* Media Jury: Arbana Osmani, Kushtrim Sudiku and Adriane Pajaziti
Awards
Source: PriFest website.
Notes
References
External links
*
{{Pristina
Recurring events established in 2009
International Film Festival
A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upo ...
International Film Festival
A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upo ...
2009 establishments in Kosovo
Film festivals in Kosovo