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A woman whose child was killed in crossfire desperately tries to get pregnant in this bleak, beautifully acted film

Lume (Adriana Matoshi) and her husband Ilir (Astrit Kabashi) managed to survive the late 90s war in Kosovo, but suffered the unthinkable loss of their young daughter, Zana, who was killed in crossfire. The years have passed on the farm where they live with Ilir’s formidable mother Remzije (Fatmire Sahiti), and the waters of everyday routine have flowed back into the scars. But Lume cannot let go of the past. Although seemingly the good, submissive little wifey that this close-knit, extremely old-fashioned society expects her to be, she’s racked with sorrow, and suffers from constant nightmares, featuring images that range from disturbing and bloody to downright David Lynchian, full of shadows and veiled figures backlit by moonlight.

Remzije is pressuring Ilir to consider taking a second wife so that...

The film is scheduled for a VoD release in April.

Matchbox Films has acquired UK-Ireland and Australia-New Zealand distribution rights on Antoneta Kastrati’s Kosovar drama Zana.

A UK-Ireland VoD release is set for mid-April, first through Curzon Home Cinema and BFI Player before expanding to other platforms by the end of the month.

The Australia-New Zealand release will follow shortly after that.

UK-based Alief Film Company co-produced the film and has confirmed further sales for Germany (Zdf) and German-speaking Austria and Switzerland (3Sat), also for releases in April.

Inspired by Kastrati’s own tragic family history, Zana is set...

Last year’s Sundance Film Festival – one of the few in-person festivals of 2020 – saw a marked gain in Asian-American cinema with the win of Yoon Yuh-jung-starring “Minari”. This year, after six days and 73 feature films, Sundance sees less wins on the Asian and Asian-American cinematic front — and instead sees a turn of attention to the first day of the festival. Though three of the four Grand Jury Prizes awarded to films showcased on Sundance’s opening night, their presence must have been difficult to forget over the last six days — among them including “Flee,” a Denmark-France-Sweden-Norway animated documentary about an Afghan refugee.

Asian stories stood out in this year’s World Cinema: Documentary category, however. “Writing with Fire” (Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh) — a film exploring the accomplishments of a Dalit women-run news outlet in India — notably won the Audience Award and Special Jury Award: Impact for Change Award. Kurdish...

Ending earlier than usual in their hybrid virtual/physical edition of this year’s festival, Sundance Film Festival have now unveiled their award winners. Swept by Coda, Summer of Soul, and Hive, check out the list below, along with links to reviews, as well as our full coverage here.

Grand Jury Prizes

The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was presented to: Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, for Summer Of Soul / U.S.A. — During the same summer as Woodstock, over 300,000 people attended the Harlem Cultural Festival, celebrating African American music and culture, and promoting Black pride and unity. The footage from the festival sat in a basement, unseen for over 50 years, keeping this incredible event in America’s history lost – until now.

The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented to: Siân Heder, for Coda / U.S.A. — As a Coda – Child of Deaf Adults – Ruby is the only hearing person in her deaf family.

The Sundance Film Festival is just weeks away from launching on January 28, and this year it’s coming to your living room with a first-of-its-kind virtual edition. One of the films to look out for in the World Cinema section of the Dramatic competition is “Hive,” the debut film from Kosovo-born filmmaker Blerta Basholli. Inspired by a true story, “Hive” is an empowering look at a woman adrift but surviving after the disappearance of her husband. The feminist portrait, which is currently seeking distribution, premieres at the festival on January 31, with an encore screening the next day. IndieWire shares the exclusive first trailer for the film below.

Here’s the synopsis for the film, courtesy of the Sundance Film Festival:

In a tight-knit town in Kosovo, families struggle to make ends meet as they anxiously await news of husbands, fathers, and sons who were ripped away by the war. When...

We're back with a new installment of Horror Highlights! Today, you can watch the trailer for UK Haunters, read the list of winners from Fantaspoa's digital festival, watch the trailer for Wicked Ones, and find out which special guests are slated for The Last Drive-In's summer special!

UK Haunters: "UK Haunters is a vlog style documentary that explores the UK Haunt scene from the Pov of film maker Dan Brownlie as he opens up the UK haunt scene for the world to view. While shooting a feature film at the London Tombs scare attraction (entitled 'The Tombs'), director Dan Brownlie got a peek into the inner workings of how scare attractions work and some of the tricks of the trade. Bowled over by the ingenuity and inventiveness he decided he needed to know more. After searching for more information Dan found there were no documentaries covering the huge UK scene,...

Taking a bet on U.S. audiences' growing appetite for unusual foreign-language drama, Synergetic Distribution has picked up North American rights to Zana, a surreal feature from Kosovar director Antoneta Kastrati.

Zana premiered last year at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it drew rave reviews for its haunting story of post-traumatic stress and the psychological scars of war, inspired by Kastrati's own tragic family history.

The plot of Zana also has a touch of horror about it. Set in a small Kosovar town 10 years after the end of the Balkan wars, Lume (Adriana Matoshi), who is still traumatized from losing ...

Taking a bet on U.S. audiences' growing appetite for unusual foreign-language drama, Synergetic Distribution has picked up North American rights to Zana, a surreal feature from Kosovar director Antoneta Kastrati.

Zana premiered last year at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it drew rave reviews for its haunting story of post-traumatic stress and the psychological scars of war, inspired by Kastrati's own tragic family history.

The plot of Zana also has a touch of horror about it. Set in a small Kosovar town 10 years after the end of the Balkan wars, Lume (Adriana Matoshi), who is still traumatized from losing ...

After losing both their sister and their mother to the Kosovo war two days before it ended, filmmaker sisters Antoneta Kastrati and Sevdije Kastrati, tell a very personal tale in ‘Zana’.

Zana premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. It was released recently in Kosovo and is one of the country’s top theatrical openings.

Los Angeles-based director/co-writer Antoneta and her sister, cinematographer Sevdije, both graduated from the American Film Institute. The screening, held at AFI, was attended by classmates and family, including the director’s husband, co-writer and producer of the film, Casey Cooper Johnson, an American who lived for 10 years in post-war Kosovo producing documentaries and television who Antoneta met in Kosovo with whom she has now been working for 17 years. At AFI he wrote and directed the short film Unmanned which screened at AFI Fest and Tribeca. He is currently completing a documentary for Brave New Films on voter suppression in U.

Kosovo’s Oscar® 2019 Entry for the Best International Feature ‘Zana’After losing both their sister and their mother to the Kosovo war two days before it ended, filmmaker sisters Antoneta Kastrati and Sevdije Kastrati, tell a very personal tale in ‘Zana’.

Zana premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. It was released recently in Kosovo and is one of the country’s top theatrical openings.

Los Angeles-based director/co-writer Antoneta and her sister, cinematographer Sevdije, both graduated from the American Film Institute. The screening, held at AFI, was attended by classmates and family, including the director’s husband, Casey Cooper Johnson, an American who lived for 10 years in post-war Kosovo producing documentaries and television. whoshe met in Kosovo with whom she has been working for 17 years. At AFI he wrote and directed the short film Unmanned which screened at AFI Fest and Tribeca. He is currently completing a documentary for Brave...

Kosovo has submitted Antoneta Kastrati's feature debut Zana for consideration in the international feature Oscar category.

The film, a co-production with neighboring Albania, follows the story of Lume (Adriana Matoshi), an Albanian woman who lives with her husband and mother in law in a village. Lume lost her only child a decade before during the civil war that raged across the former Yugoslavia and is now haunted by night terrors and is unable to get pregnant.

Desperate for a child, she and her family abandon modern medicine and turn to a traditional healer for help, where Lume undergoes elaborate ...

Kosovo has submitted Antoneta Kastrati's feature debut Zana for consideration in the international feature Oscar category.

The film, a co-production with neighboring Albania, follows the story of Lume (Adriana Matoshi), an Albanian woman who lives with her husband and mother in law in a village. Lume lost her only child a decade before during the civil war that raged across the former Yugoslavia and is now haunted by night terrors and is unable to get pregnant.

Desperate for a child, she and her family abandon modern medicine and turn to a traditional healer for help, where Lume undergoes elaborate ...

From the beginning, there’s something disconcerting about the exuberance of Lendita Zeqiraj’s feature debut “Aga’s House.” We’re immediately plunked down into the middle of a circle of women sitting on a remote Kosovan hillside in the sunshine exchanging salty anecdotes while preparing food. They laugh, bicker and throw cruel little jabs at one another, referring to age, attractiveness, sexual experience or lack thereof. But the bawdiness and hilarity feels volatile and precarious, as though it could end at any moment, as though these women, in their exile from society, are living as loudly and brashly as they can to drown out the ticking of the unexploded mine of the past over which they dance.

Four of the women have been living in this so-called “refuge house” for some time: the pretty, flirtatious, unserious Emira (Rozafa Çelaj); her best friend and sparring partner Luma (Adriana Matoshi); Kumrija...

Kosovar director Antoneta Kastrati’s debut feature is set to world-premiere in the Discovery section of the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival. In a small Kosovar village, Lume (Adriana Matoshi), lives with her husband Ilir (Astrit Kabashi) and her mother-in-law Remzije (Fatmire Sahiti). Lume is under constant pressure to get pregnant, especially from Remzije, who threatens to “replace” her with a younger and more eager prospective wife who will bring her grandchildren. Desperate, Lume decides to stray away from modern medicine and seeks the help of witch doctors and mystic healers who promise to treat her infertility. During the process, her well-hidden post-war traumas will soon return to the surface, and the family will start to question her mental and psychological state. This is what Antoneta Kastrati portrays in her debut feature film, Zana, set to world-premiere in the Discovery section of the 44th Toronto International Film Festival. The Kosovar director.

A nine-year-old boy raised in a house full of women is determined to find his missing father, a man who he believes vanished after the Kosovo War. The five women he shares a home with meanwhile carry the burdens of their own wartime traumas, finding common ground in the stories, songs and jokes they share. But even in a house bursting with life and laughter, the country’s dark history of ethnic tension and violence threatens to rise to the surface — bringing with it painful memories and secrets long buried in the past.

“Aga’s House” is the feature film debut of Kosovo’s Lendita Zeqiraj, whose critically acclaimed short “Balcony” world premiered at the Venice film festival. Starring Arti Lokaj as Aga, along with a powerful ensemble cast including Rozafa Celaj, Adriana Matoshi, Basri Lushtaku, Shengyl Ismaili, Melihate Qena, and Rebeka Qena, the film opens the East of the...

The problem with “The Marriage,” a well-meaning but structurally lopsided first feature from Yugoslavian director Blerta Zeqiri, is that the marriage plot from the title is so much less interesting than the love plot at its core.

This is a film that takes place in a cold, snowy climate, and the main male character, Bekim (Alban Ukaj), and his fiancée, Anita (Adriana Matoshi), are bundled up in the first scene as they wait outside a center for missing persons. (Anita’s parents have been missing for over 15 years.) When Bekim and Anita enter the center, we see people placing long-stemmed flowers down on numbered segments that carry the found bones of their loved ones.

The Kosovo War of the late 1990s hangs over this narrative, because any story set in Yugoslavia has to deal with it in some way. But the character of Anita in “The Marriage” does not seem...

Kosovo has selected Amsterdam-based actor-turned-director Edon Rizvanolli's Unwanted as its candidate for foreign-language film Oscar consideration.

The social drama tells the story of a teenage boy from Kosovo, Alban (Jason De Ridder), living in exile in Holland with his mother, Zana (Adriana Matoshi). Although they both left Kosovo during the Balkan Civil War, when Alban begins a romance with a sensitive young woman, Anna, neither realize that unresolved injustices and dark memories of the past lie just beneath the surface.

The film marks Kosovo's fourth submission to the Oscars and was produced by Pristina-based 1244 Productions and Dutch company Asfalt...

Prize winners revealed from 9th edition of festival.

Croatian thriller Goran has won the best film award at the 9th edition of Kosovo’s Pristina Film Festival (PriFest, July 13-20).

The film was produced by Danijel Pek and written by Norwegian writer Gjermund Gisvold. Director Nevio Marasevic was also given a special mention in the best director category.

Croatian filmmaker Hana Jusic won the best director award for Croatia-Denmark production Quit Staring at my Plate, while the film’s star Mia Petricevic was presented with the best actress prize.

Best actor went to Caner Cindoruk, who won for his role in Turkish drama Ember (Kor). The film was written and directed by Turkish filmmaker Zeki Demirkubuz, his 11th feature.

The 2017 edition of the event was the largest so far, with more than 80 films screened.

Elsewhere, Crash writer-director Paul Haggis attended this year’s festival to receive an honorary award for his service to word cinema.

Best European...