Official Selection Out of Competition · 43rd Edition
HIVE
Hive (Zgjoi)
Director
Blerta BARTHOLLI
Country
Kosovo, Swaziland, Albania, Macedonia
Runtime
1 h 24 min
Language
Albanian
Premiere
MENA premiere (Middle East and North Africa)
Synopsis
Fahrije’s husband has been missing since the war in Kosovo, and along with their grief, her family is struggling financially. In order to provide for them, she launches a small agricultural business, but in the traditional patriarchal village where she lives, her ambition and efforts to empower herself and other women are not seen as positive things. She struggles not only to keep her family afloat but also against a hostile community that is rooting for her to fail.
Cast
Yllka GASHI, Çun LAJÇI, Aurita AGUSHI, Kumrije Hoxha
Screenplay
Blerta BARTHOLLI
Producers
Yll UKA, Valon BAJGORA
About the Director
Blerta Basholli is a Writer/Director with a unique realistic visual style. In 2008 she was awarded the Deans Fellowship at the Film Graduate Program at Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. Her short film LENA AND ME screened and was awarded at the First Run Film Festival 2011; Dokufest 2011; and many other festivals. Her documentary MIRROR, MIRROR…, 2006, was officially selected at several international festivals including Sarajevo; and Berlin Film Festivals. In 2011, she returned to her birthplace where she wrote/directed and worked on many short and feature films. HIVE is her debut feature, which she has developed since 2011.
Screenings