I love my hometown of Prizren for it’s calm lifestyle and many outdoor related activities that it has to offer. It is well surrounded by numerous mountains, rivers, and valleys that are a true feast for farmers and tourists alike. In recent years there have been few events that have placed this relatively small town in the map; one of this events is undoubtedly Dokufest — a documentary film-festival which over the years has added few more film genres in its repertoire.

While in New York (for so many years) I used to hear a lot about the festival, not only from my friends back home in Prizren and Prishtina, but also from few documentary filmmakers from abroad — in particular from a Spanish friend Pau — a filmmaker from Barcelona — who was very keen of the festival and knew about it more than I did. Which brings me to my question: Why didn’t Dokufest impress me after its 7th year in action?

Prior to Dokufest’s week-long filled with great films, I started seeing billboards/ads around the main Lumbardhi cinema announcing the festival. I was getting quite excited even though I was having difficulties finding the time to attend the week of August 4th, because of a big project that I had to launch; but that’s another story. Dokufest’s website (designed by Rrota) was nicely organized as well and allowed me to find what I was looking for fairly quickly, i.e.: films, workshops, etc. Even though I couldn’t find the time to attend the event I managed to somehow leave work early on Monday the 4th, and swing past the Prishtina Airport road (Komoran-Caraleve) by avoiding rush-hour/construction traffic up in Veternik/QMI area and explaining to the Swedish KFOR check-point in Prishtina to let me go quickly after getting pulled over by them; and arrive well past 8pm just to jump in the first film of the night: Life. Support. Music. by Eric Daniel Metzgar. Even though heavy in subject matter, the film was well served to an audience of some 400 (rough estimate).

…and just as a side note: it’s quite a thrill watching an open-air western-made film, while in the dark-distance you hear a round semi-orchestrated symphony of some 40 (rough again..) mosques’ calling the night while featuring even farther a Live wedding-performance of an up-and-coming folk singer with tunes resembling turkish and eastern european tunes mixed with old Albanian hereditary notes. Now, that’s something you don’t get to experience everyday!

However, let me get back to smash-mouthing Dokufest…

Even though I don’t personally know the organizers, I remotely know of them being artistic in their work and most of them have either foreign fine art education or years of experience in the field; or sometimes even both. Films were selected from all around the world, and this year I noticed a climb in national films being shown, which is a great sign, not just for the festival itself, but for the state of Kosova’s film industry, regardless of its quality and disrespect for the international copyright laws — when it comes to scoring the film. Artistically, the festival checks out OK, however in its organization, there’s still pots and holes that need covered — just like Kosova’s roads — for a smoother ride.

First and foremost, on my first night I noticed that the entrance was decorated with drape like posters that were either poorly designed or sun-drenched to the point of fading away to their original tone. Then, when entering the city from any direction there were no signs of any festival going on in this town. Yes, I understand the budgetary limitations, but with “big-shot” sponsors like Pro-Credit, Ipko, and the rest, I don’t see why a single flag like banner wasn’t welcoming anyone into this great week of festivities. Then, not sure if this is true, but some of the visitors were paying 2 Euros per Festival Catalog — true (?!). Also (this blame goes to the town itself) — Why weren’t there any related activities, helping Kosova students, artists, and such. Maybe classes in copyright laws (sorry for bringing this up again - I’m huge into this), latest technology, since we’re not lacking in the artistic aspects of things.

I have few other things that I wasn’t so happy with, but here’s my wish list for the next year around:

1. A huge banner welcoming people from each entry of the town.
2. FREE Catalogs
3. More Workshops on film, production, acting, technology, etc.
4. Newly printed drape-like posters with rich colors
5. More Q+A with filmmakers
6. Filmmaker panels
7. A bigger participation by national filmmakers & artists regardless of their opposing views
8. And overall I want my hometown of Prizren to be festive in and out, no matter where the films are being shown.

That’s it for now & please, do know that I only want the best for the festival & I want it to meet my expectations of a festival that resembles Tribeca in New York or Sundance in Utah. I know these are hard to achieve, but setting the standard high is the only way to meet it up.

Cheers and I’m looking forward to Dokufest 2009. Until then, happy filmmaking & event-organizing!

PS: The Dokufest Camp was a great idea — Two-thumbs up for that!

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