The Prishtina International Film Festival (PriFest), the biggest fiction-film festival in Kosovo, is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. Since its previous edition, the summer festival has been aiming to retain its character as a true cultural diplomacy tool and will take place from 17-22 July in Prishtina. For its tenth edition, PriFest is focusing on productions from Kosovo. Opening with Rooftop Story by Gazmend Nela, the festival will screen a total of 11 Kosovar films (the highest number ever) that have been helmed by local directors and that have been supported by the Kosovo Cinematography Center. Acclaimed British actress Vanessa Redgrave is returning to PriFest for the first time since her visit to its first edition in order to present her debut film, Sea Sorrow [+lire aussi :
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interview : Vanessa Redgrave
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A total of 58 films will be screened in the various competitive and non-competitive programmes, including six world, two international, three European and 14 regional premieres. PriFest’s main competition section, the European programme, includes six films this year: the British effort Apostasy [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by debuting director Daniel Kokotajlo, the Latvian thriller Foam at the Mouth by Janis Nords, I Was a Dreamer [+lire aussi :
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interview : Alessandro Borghi
interview : Michele Vannucci
fiche film] by Italian debutant Michelle Vannucci, Wajib [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by acclaimed Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir, the LGBTQI drama Anchor and Hope [+lire aussi :
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interview : Carlos Marques-Marcet
fiche film] by Carlos Marques-Marcet and Ukrainian director Marysia Nikitiuk’s debut, When the Trees Fall [+lire aussi :
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interview : Marysia Nikitiuk
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Ten movies will make up the Balkan film competition, dubbed the Honey and Blood programme. The majority of the films hail from the countries of the former Yugoslavia, and three of them are from Kosovo. The titles taking part in this competition are Directions [+lire aussi :
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interview : Stephan Komandarev
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interview : Alen Drljević
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interview : Vladimir Blazevski
fiche film] by Vladimir Blazevski, Comic Sans [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Nevio Marasović, A Prishtina Story by Burbuqe Berisha, Rooftop Story by Gazmend Nela, The Smell of Money by Ahmet Boyacıoğlu, Zer [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Kazım Öz and The Return by Kastriot Abdyli, which will be screened out of competition.

Last year, PriFest introduced the PriDocs competition, focusing on documentaries, and this year, the slate will include six features and three shorts. In partnership with Outfest in Los Angeles, the non-competitive Let it Be special programme will screen three feature films with overarching LGBTQI themes: Evening Shadows by Sridhar Rangayan, The Marriage [+lire aussi :
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interview : Blerta Zeqiri
fiche film] by Blerta Zeqiri and God’s Own Country [+lire aussi :
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interview : Francis Lee
fiche film] by Francis Lee. Furthermore, PriFest is introducing the competitive Students’ Programme and the Experimental Programme, which will screen four films, two as world premieres.

The core event for the Kosovar film industry, PriFORUM, is also organising its tenth edition and will run from 19-22 July, retaining all of its main components. Seven projects from the region will participate in the Best Pitch Competition and will receive support in partnership with EAVE. Furthermore, the third edition of Prishtina Rendezvous will help distributors and sales agents from Europe to find out more about current Balkan film projects. Finally, PriFORUM is pressing on with its Work in Progress and Script Development sections alongside panel discussions, master classes, meetings and training programmes.