Alban Ukaj

The Tower of Strength

A persecuted child finds shelter in the house of the enemy. The host faces an awestruck choice: to save the child's life and his own integrity - or risk losing his family to a group of armed kinsmen.

Era

Set in Kosovo in 1990 at a time of political volatility as Yugoslavia is breaking apart, ERA tells the story of 17-year-old Era, a rebellious Albanian girl who has fallen in love with Betim, a man stuck between two worlds on account of his having an Albanian father and a Serbian mother. Era is forced not to see him for a while until the situation calms.

Stane

On the day of an inauguration to head the family business Stane confronts marriage, love and patriarchy.

The Albanian Virgin

Albania, 1958. Luana, the daughter of a well respected man in the village, makes friends with Agim, who moved here after his family were banned from the city by the communists. Years later, their childhood friendship turns into teenage love, but without prospects. Luana’s father promised her in marriage to someone else when she was a child. When her father finds out about Luana and Agim’s love, he is furious and immediately arranges for his daughter to be married to the man he chose for her. Luana faces a dilemma: to flee with her lover to Germany, risking being caught by the communists and probably killed, or stay loyal to her family. A poignant love story set in dark times shaped by pressure from old traditions. A deeply human tale about freedom, which is the greatest good even if the price is loneliness.

One of Us

A former volunteer in the Kosovo war returns to Albania to pursue a career in the police force. In the country's chaotic and corrupt capital city, Tirana, the ex-soldier turned cop and ends up solving the crime he committed.

Tori and Lokita

In Belgium today, a young boy and an adolescent girl who have travelled alone from Africa pit their invincible friendship against the difficult conditions of their exile.

The White Fortress

What could be a beautiful fairy tale for some - boy meets girl - could also be the beginning of a horror film for Faruk. The young man is crushed between the dark world of his criminal cousins in Sarajevo and the discovery of love. The film powerfully visualises and contrasts a harshness and tenderness experienced and dreamed.

Radio Freedom

An idealistic ham radio operator is trapped in a besieged town and struggles to survive the madness around him.

Quo Vadis, Aida?

Bosnia, July 1995. Aida is a translator for the UN in the small town of Srebrenica. When the Serbian army takes over the town, her family is among the thousands of citizens looking for shelter in the UN camp. As an insider to the negotiations Aida has access to crucial information that she needs to interpret. What is at the horizon for her family and people – rescue or death? Which move should she take?

Full Moon

A police officer Hamza has to work that night even though his wife has gone into labour, because the police are short-staffed. To make everything worse, it seems that people showing up at the station have decided to prove the old belief about the mysterious powers of the full moon and its influence on human behaviour. In the course of that one night, representatives of all the absurdity and tragedy of life in Bosnia and Herzegovina parade through the station and somehow help Hamza get ready for a new life.

Sympathy for the Devil

In an urban war zone where everything that moves is a target, Paul tries to live, love and inform.

Birdy

Tica (Birdy) a war orphan arrives to Sarajevo with his newborn daughter urgently needing surgical procedure. Facing his new appalling reality, Tica embarks into the night where demons of the past are always ready.

The Marriage

Bekim and Anita are getting married, but Anita is unaware that Bekim is still in love with his best friend Nol. The Marriage charts the emotional predicament of the man who has strong feelings for two persons. There is great pressure to marry and only mild support for LGBTQ rights in Kosovan society, so Zeqiri’s film, which unashamedly puts same-sex and heterosexual passion on the same plane, is a forceful step in the right direction, as well as a dynamic portrait of romance and deception in the shadow of war.

Sabina K.

Sabina, a divorced mother of two small children, falls in love with an old friend from the Bosnian war. The two plan to marry, but things go terribly wrong.

Bota

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.

J.A.C.E.

Twice-orphaned Jace, a seven-year-old Albanian of Greek origin, witnesses a massacre that wipes out his entire foster family in Argyrokastron, and then falls in the hands of a bunch of ruthless gangsters who "export" children abroad for various profitable reasons (ranging from beggary to organ trade). Jace ends up in Athens, Greece, begging at street corners, exploring the secret horrors of brutal institutions for young offenders or, much later, serving obscure patrons, in an underworld where violent loss seems to be his only destiny. The movie follows Jace's inverted Odyssey in a dark universe of abuse, murder and fear, as he desperately (and silently) seeks for a "family" of his own or, at least, for a sense of belonging

The Battery

It is the third year of the war and Sarajevo people are tired and nervous. A ceasefire has been announced. In a building with six apartments, a young couple is waiting for a renovation. The whole neighborhood is excitedly waiting for the birth of a new baby. Roma play and sing under windows.

On the Path

Loving young couple Luna and Amar try their best to overcome unexpected obstacles that threaten their relationship. After Amar's dramatic change in a fundamentalist community, Luna tears herself apart searching if love is truly enough to keep the couple together on the path to a lifetime of happiness...

Dreams

Suddenly a moment from the past, a shard of memory can surge, overwhelming the senses. Crystal snowflakes land precariously on pale birch trees, civilians shudder from the cold, soldiers in heavy jackets give orders.

Nightguards

Mahir is married to Geraldine for three years and still they have no children. So Mahir becomes convinced that he is pregnant. From that moment, he keeps throwing up.

Lorna's Silence

Lorna is a young Albanian woman in a marriage of convenience with Claudy, a heroin addict. Just as Lorna is about to be granted Belgian citizenship, Claudy finds the strength to detox; this presents a problem not only for Lorna, but for the criminal who brokered the deal.

Shopping

The director's fascination is the parallel world which exists behind the doors of big shopping malls. It is as if behind those doors everyday human problems do not exist. Yet, as we spend money, we all have to go back, through the same door, back to reality.

The Ship of Fools

Sarajevo in 1992. Vedran, a once famous musician, tries to shelter his family from the madness of war. He hides them in his old house and goes out of his way to give them a normal day to day life. For a while he manages to keep the war at a distance, but when his daughter gets pregnant Vedran wants to give her a proper wedding in the old town hall

Magic Eye

During the riots of 1997 in Albania the retired photographer PETRO travels from his hometown Gjirokastra to the capital Tirana. He has taken pictures of a killing with his Super-8-camera and wants to get the film developed. Petro doesn't know that he shot material that shows how a TV-camera causes the death of a man and his granddaughter in order to get a good story. Unfortunately Petro meets this cameraman - BERTI - on the trip to Tirana. When the film is finally developed Petro gets to know the truth - and he knows his life is in danger! After many adventures on the road he tries at last to present the film to the public. But he must realize that the material was stolen. So only Petro knows the truth while the media spread lies about the deaths of Girokastra.

Paycheck

A man earns his first paycheck by driving his motorcycle, for the pleasure of rich people, through a mine field in Bosnia.

Frame for the Picture of My Homeland

Based on a true story, the film presents events similar to those in the Lukić indictment.