The medieval castle overlooking the city of Prizren in southern Kosovo is one of the amazing locations for the Dukovest Film Festival, which has become one of the largest cultural events in the Balkan country.
Showcasing international short films and documentaries since 2002, the event has become a window to the world for local youth who struggle to travel abroad.
Dokufest is famous for its five open-air cinemas located among mosques and churches that testify to the city’s diverse cultural and religious heritage.
Two screens stand above Prizren Castle, another on a square near the 17th-century Ottoman Sinan Pasha Mosque, and another on a platform rising from the shallow Lombardy River that bisects the city.
“Dokufest has brought the world here,” said Futun Nurkulari, artistic director of the festival.
“Because we couldn’t go abroad, we brought the world here with people, movies, possibilities, and friendship.”
With their country still suffering from ethnic tensions since declaring independence from Serbia in 2008, Kosovo residents need a visa to travel to EU countries. And because Kosovo is only recognized by about 110 other countries, their passports are one of the weakest in the world.
More than 200 documentaries and films are taking part in Dokufest this year, including entries from Colombia, Tanzania, Great Britain, Canada and the United States.
The topic is artificial intelligence and whether artificial intelligence or human intelligence is worse.
Jude Shehab is a Lebanese-American filmmaker who is participating in the festival with her film Q, which tells the story of the influence of the secretive Lebanese religious regime on three generations of women in her family.
For now, she says, documentary filmmakers are safe from AI.
“We’re doing something real, immediate and real, like I’m making a personal movie about my mom. The intimacy I don’t have with AI can take it away from us,” Shihab said.
