Tristan Halilaj

A seventeen-year-old boy and his younger sister’s dreams and aspirations are put on hold when their father is accused of murder.

In 1990, a European delegation comes to Tirana to monitor the reforms of the communist regime. A government official is sent on a mission to a faraway prison in order to bring an important dissident back to the capital.

Four actors travel illegally through Balkan borders in war times to a theatre festival. But their real mission is to find their idol Michael Palin.

Bota (Albanian for “the world”) is a cafe situated on the edge of a vast area of marshland in a remote part of Albania, and it is here that the lives of the protagonists intersect in this compelling debut by Iris Elezi and Thomas Logoreci. The directors skilfully exploit the genius loci of the desolate landscape and, aided by a period score and beguiling long shots, they flawlessly evoke the atmosphere of a place where the past still encroaches upon people’s lives.

Young Kristo lives in a village at the edge of gorgeous Lake Prespa, a body of water divided on the borders of three Balkan countries Albania, Macedonia and Greece. In order to support his family, Kristo has become a small-time marijuana smuggler, using his boat and knowledge of the lake waters to transport drug packages from the Albanian to the Macedonian side.

After convincing his friends to perform in their drag outfits at a night club owned by a very homophobic businessman, things go awry when their performance is stopped suddenly by a wardrobe malfunction and their true identities are revealed, putting all their lives in instant peril.

Living in a crowded, multi-generational household in a small village in Kosovo, the quiet teenager Venera can rarely find privacy. However, when she befriends the rebellious Dorina, a new, liberating world opens up to her. Slowly, Venera begins to push against her conservative family’s expectations.

A family surviving in a totalitarian dystopia is faced with the dilemma of reporting a family of immigrants who suddenly seek their help or preserve human dignity by endangering their own safety.

Mira and Klodi, a young Albanian couple arrive in Marseille with a crucial mission. As they face a fateful appointment and a room full of waiting men, time is of the essence. As they confront the urgency of their choice, they must also confront the growing need to let go of each other.

Zoe and Volta have been together since childhood. They leave their native village to study in the city. Candid and full of dreams, they befriend a group of young rebels, anti-system and determined to make it known.

Syla, a tortured former political prisoner from Kosova, realizes that his political idealism destroyed his life. After twenty years of mundane life in London, he returns home to confront his troubled past.