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ZGJOI

Kosovo, Switzerland, North Macedonia, Albania

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Synopsis

Fahrije’s husband has been missing since the war in Kosovo, and along with their grief, her family is struggling financially. In order to provide for them she launches a small agricultural business, but in the traditional patriarchal village where she lives, her ambition and efforts to empower herself and other women are not seen as positive things. She struggles not only to keep her family afloat but also against a hostile community which is rooting for her to fail.

Nominations & Awards

Cast & Crew

  • Directed by: Blerta Basholli
  • Written by: Blerta Basholli
  • Produced by: Yll Uka, Valon Bajgora, Agon Uka
  • Cinematography: Alex Bloom
  • Editing: Enis Saraçi, Félix Sandri
  • Production Design: Vlatko Chachorovski
  • Costume Design: Hana Zeqa, Fjorela Mirdita
  • Make-Up Artist: Fiona Abdullahu
  • Original Score: Julien Painot
  • Sound: Philippe Ciompi
  • Casting: Blerta Basholli
  • Cast: Yllka Gashi, Çun Lajçi, Aurita Agushi, Kumrije Hoxha, Adriana Matoshi

Director's Statement

“A widow should only do house work, respect her in-laws and stay at home”

These were the words Fahrije Hoti heard everyday as soon as she got a driving license and started to provide for her kids, having lost her husband during the last war in Kosovo.
I was sitting at my apartment in Brooklyn, NY, trying to finish writing my school exercises while I was listening to a TV Show from Kosovo. A woman was talking about her getting a driving license and the whole village gossiping how she humiliated her family.

At first I thought it was a joke. It was funny yet very sad, hard and motivating. Fahrije Hoti, a widow, mother of two, had to do something to survive, and she did. She got a driving license and got a job. Everyone talked and went crazy but she did it. One day she opened a business where she employed other widows and now she produces pickled vegetables sold all around Kosovo.

Besides being a woman and a mother myself, I was intrigued a lot by her will and power to survive and never look back. Her positivity and energy are fascinating. That is something I want to bring on screen, a strong female character full of colours, a woman protagonist that needs to be seen by Kosovo and a wider audience. Her decision to continue with her life no matter what was confusing, painful, sometimes even funny, but deeply inspiring.

She accepted to write the script based on her life story and I believe this personal experience of hers can become universal and compelling to a wide audience. It is a Kosovan authentic story and a woman’s challenge in the society - both make the film more powerful and more emotional for all kinds of people.

While the story is quite painful and sad, it is also very empowering, it is about beginnings, change, and how funny life can be in the most serious moments. A human story of Fahrije and the widows that work with her in trying to built their life, the new one.

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