Feature Documentary
Director: Maddie Gwinn
Executive Produced by: Shane Boris & Odessa Rae
Produced by: Bettina Morlock & Igor Dovgal (Essence Films DE), Mitch Dickman (Listen Productions USA), Leart Rama (Katarze Films RKS)
Cinematography by: Samir Ljuma & Maddie Gwinn
Editing by: Maddie Gwinn & Enis Saraçi
Supported by: SWR & MFG Baden-Württemberg
Longline: Following the lives of young musicians in Kosovo’s alternative scene, an American filmmaker explores the parallelled broken promises of a generation.
Synopsis: Countries appear and disappear with every century. Kosovo could have just been one of them— the country that never happened, but it did. Twenty-five years post-war, fifteen years independent, the generation who grew up alongside their new nation is coming into adulthood. At what point do promises turn into lies? In the capital city of Prishtina, we dive underground into the intimate spaces and lives of subversive musicians Suada Abazi, Edona Vatoci, and The Milk Snatchers. The co-narration between the American director and participants probes at the paralleled expectations, will to create, and escapism that their generation shares. Suada (Suki) is caught in a tightrope walk between worlds as lesbian leader of an alternative space and her patriarchal family’s way of life. Will she get the recognition she yearns for from both sides? Edona is a former child star disillusioned by her drifted trajectory. Will she make peace with her past and heal her (literal) scars outside of Kosovo? The Milk Snatchers are a band divided by indecision when the guitarist Leke wants to move to France right as the lead singer Donat begins to believes in their rapidly growing success. The film questions the fading hopes of the West exported to countries like Kosovo, and how it might be possible to take back agency.
Context: Kosovo, formerly an autonomous province of Yugoslavia under Serbian administration, declared its independence in 2008, following the devastating 1999 conflict. Recognized by half the world, Kosovo remains in a liminal state between Western and Eastern powers at geopolitical play, fabricating arbitrary and discriminatory restrictions on freedom of movement, economic, and cultural growth.
Perspective: Coming from a country that is reaching a boiling point, yet is the one that Kosovo still relies on as the foundation for democracy and protection, I am both questioning this reliance on the West and curious about how Kosovo will evolve into a self-determined direction. While one might point out a “bias” towards the opinions of Kosovar Albanians over Serbians, the point of the documentary is to reveal that the power struggle stems far beyond ethnic/historical lines, and that Prishtina’s music subculture is a microcosm for all peoples caught in the middle. What is becoming clear is that world powers are hiding behind both ethnocentric and multicultural political reasoning, using identity signaling to divert attention away from the real economic, resource, and territorial struggle– of capital.
While I can easily travel to Kosovo, acquire gear, funding, and recognition for my work, our protagonists, who often sacrifice and work harder just to create, are burdened by the injustices of residing in a “liminal” nation. At once Kosovo is catching up, in terms of infrastructure, economic, social policy, but there is a trend in transnational thinking as a model for the future. What I feel is important to communicate about Kosovo through an American/European educated perspective is that we share the same values and principles, and maybe, through their current period of isolation, we can learn about the culpability of our own societies and from their progress as a community in the midst of nation building.