10/09/2015 - Kosovo has picked Visar Morina’s film, awarded at Karlovy Vary, as its contender for Best Foreign-language Film at the Academy Awards

The second year Kosovo has been eligible to submit a film for consideration for the Oscars, the country's selection committee has chosen Babai [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Visar Morina
film profile] “for its significant directorial approach, aesthetic identity, the embodiment of the actors and the authentic treatment of the story”.

Babai, a debut film written and directed by Visar Morina, has seen much success, after having had its international premiere in the official competition at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, where the film won the Best Director Award. The movie was also awarded with three prizes at Film Fest Munchen in the category of the German New Talent Award for Best Script, Best Director and Best Actor. Morina’s film is also included in the EFA selection for the 28^th European Film Awards, the nominations for which will be unveiled on 7 November.

Co-produced by Kosovo (Produksioni Krusha), Germany (Niko Film), Macedonia (Skopje Film Studio) and France (Eaux Vives Productions), Babai is the most expensive film that has been produced in Kosovo in recent years. The film explores the story of Nori (Val Maloku) and his father Gezim (Astrit Kabashi), both street cigarette vendors in 1990s Kosovo during the Milosevic regime. The father wants to find a way to illegally migrate to Germany, and his son does everything he can so that he can be with his father. Caught between the wish to live together and the need to deal with the harshness of reality, the father-son relationship reaches a point where nothing between them is as it used to be.

The nominees for the 88th Academy Awards will be announced on 14 January 2016. The ceremony will take place on 28 February, in Los Angeles. Last year’s contender for the Oscar for Best Foreign-language Film was Isa Qosja’s Three Windows and a Hanging [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arben Zharku
interview: Isa Qosja
film profile].