Foreign producers interested for the Kosovar movie

"Taking into account it is Kosovo's first time being represented in "Berlinale", or more accurately, in the "European Film Market", our presence has brought a great interest for the film industry. There were those who were surprised that cinematography even exists in Kosovo, or those who expressed their interest that our movies be shown in various festivals from all over the world, distributors who showed interest to distribute  our movies, and all the way to movie producers who were seeking information for possibilities to cooperate with Kosovar artists", Berisha said. He went on to say that Kosovar stand has served that Kosovo movies be further promoted.

Meetings with the 'Berlinale" festival leaders

Clearly a major achievement of the KCC in "Berlinale" one may consider also to be the meeting of the KCC leaders with the leaders of the prestigious "Berlinale", a meeting which resulted to be very successful. "Our presence itself in "Berlinale", apart from the symbolic, I think presents a major step in the right direction. I say this taking into account the fact that apart from the numerous daily activities in the "European Film Market", we also had a meeting of the very high leaders of the "Berlinale", Mrs. Karin Hofinger Director for "Berlinale"s international relations, and Mrs. Daniela Weber, Programme Director. They received our delegation led by the Minister of Culture, Mr. Krasniqi and there it was confirmed that this year, KCC will be the host of the movie pre-selection for the Western Balkans. This is a good news for Kosovo's cinematography. I must say that the presence of the Minister of Culture at the "Berlinale" gave an additional dimension to KCC activities and increased the profile of our presence", stated Fatos Berisha who even since assuming the leadership of the Kosovo Cinematographic Centre has been working continuously that Kosovar movies will be present in many international festivals.

Fruitful contacts

One of the main goals of KCC in "Berlinale" was to establish contacts with foreign producers who in fact were interested for the Kosovar cinematography. "One of the main KCC activities in "Berlinale" was to establish new contacts and creating possible co-producers for our future projects. We had a great activity in this direction and we have had a great interest from many producers and filming companies who sought information about possibilities of co-production and the manner of KCC functioning  and of Kosovo film industry in general," underscored Berisha. He went to on say that Kosovo's presence in festivals of the level of "Berlinale" is a late one when we take into account the time a movies consumes until it is produced. "Knowing that nature of film production and the time needed to produce a movie, I say that our presence in "Berlinale" and of festivals of this level, is unfortunately a late one. This task could have been accomplished much earlier, and the fruits of that presence and activity would have now been harvested. But, we are where we are and we are now making the first step the results of which we will be expecting in the future. There is much to do because the others have moved ahead of us and we have no other option but to do that which al the world does. What I can confirm is that we as KCC will continue t be active and the second step after the "Berlinale" will be our presence in the "Cannes" festival. We also have the support of the Ministry of Culture on this”, he underscored.

B. Zyberi / Kosova Sot/