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PRODUCTION Kosovo / Albania / Montenegro

Isa Qosja returns to Montenegro

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- The acclaimed Kosovar director is preparing his upcoming feature film, The Stork, by returning to his birthplace in Montenegro

Isa Qosja returns to Montenegro
Actress Arta Dobroshi on the set of Isa Qosja's upcoming feature, The Stork

UPDATE 18/07/2019: The plot of Isa Qosja's The Stork revolves around the migration of the Albanian inhabitants from the region, a wave that started in the 1960s and continues today. The film will follow three different storylines and the modern-day lives of three generations of women, who have been left alone to deal with life and death. The movie is being produced by Montegrin firm Artikulacija Film in co-production with local outfits ABHO Film and Aba Film as well as foreign partners One Draft LLC (Kosovo) and Tunnel Film (Albania). The project is being supported by the Kosovo Cinematography Center, Eurimages, the Film Centre of Montenegro and the Albanian National Centre of Cinematography, and additional funding comes courtesy of the North Macedonia Film Agency. In terms of the director’s expectations for the picture, he also added that he expected “that this film would receive the attention it deserves from important international festivals”. Shooting will wrap in about three weeks' time. The Stork is expected to be released in 2020.

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One of the most prominent directors from Kosovo, Isa Qosja, is preparing his next feature film, entitled The Stork (previous working title: Skype), which will be set in his birthplace in Montenegro for the first time ever. Qosja’s latest film, Three Windows and a Hanging [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arben Zharku
interview: Isa Qosja
film profile
]
, was widely circulated at festivals and won multiple awards. He is of course also behind numerous Kosovan modern classics, such as Proka (1985), Rojet e Mjegullës (1988) and Kukumi (2005).

According to the first snippets of available information, the film will be shot in Qosja’s birthplace, the small town of Gusinje (Gusia) in north-eastern Montenegro, something that has been one of the director’s biggest dreams to realise. Actors confirmed to star in the film include Arta Dobroshi in the leading role – one of Kosovo’s most famous actresses, well known for her performance in Lorna's Silence [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arta Dobroshi
interview: Arta Dobroshi
interview: Jean-Pierre et Luc Dardenne
interview: Olivier Bronckart
film profile
]
by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne and in Three Worlds [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arta Dobroshi
film profile
]
by Catherine Corsini – as well as Arben Bajraktaraj and Mirush Kabashi. Qosja will also be returning to collaborate with Gökhan Tiryaki, the internationally-acclaimed and award-winning Turkish cinematographer who is best known for his work on Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Palme d’Or Winner, Winter Sleep [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
film profile
]
, as well as Ivy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tolga Karaçelik
film profile
]
by Tolga Karaçelik.

When asked about the background of his new film and the significance of shooting in Montenegro, Qojsa stated: “I would like to speak about my new film The Stroke, not only because it differs from my previous films like Kukumi or Three Windows and a Hanging, but also because after many years, I’ll be returning to my birthplace in Gusia, Montenegro to realise this project.

My inspiration was not only my birthplace, but also its surroundings, its people, the happenings and the bleak spirits they find themselves in. Families are torn in two, the older generation remains and lives there, and the younger generation emigrates to America. Like this, slowly and silently, families, villages, and towns die out. I am convinced that this subject will communicate emotionally with many people that are familiar with the bitter taste of emigration.”

The film is produced by 4MM Productions and is supported by the Kosovo Cinematography Center. In terms of the director’s expectations for the film, he also added that he expected “that this film will receive the attention it deserves from important international festivals."

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