Alban Ukaj

Albania, 1958. Luana, the daughter of a well respected man in the village, makes friends with Agim, who moved here after his family were banned from the city by the communists. Years later, their childhood friendship turns into teenage love, but without prospects. Luana’s father promised her in marriage to someone else when she was a child. When her father finds out about Luana and Agim’s love, he is furious and immediately arranges for his daughter to be married to the man he chose for her. Luana faces a dilemma: to flee with her lover to Germany, risking being caught by the communists and probably killed, or stay loyal to her family. A poignant love story set in dark times shaped by pressure from old traditions. A deeply human tale about freedom, which is the greatest good even if the price is loneliness.

A former volunteer in the Kosovo war returns to Albania to pursue a career in the police force. In the country's chaotic and corrupt capital city, Tirana, the ex-soldier turned cop and ends up solving the crime he committed.

In Belgium today, a young boy and an adolescent girl who have travelled alone from Africa pit their invincible friendship against the difficult conditions of their exile.

What could be a beautiful fairy tale for some - boy meets girl - could also be the beginning of a horror film for Faruk. The young man is crushed between the dark world of his criminal cousins in Sarajevo and the discovery of love. The film powerfully visualises and contrasts a harshness and tenderness experienced and dreamed.

An idealistic ham radio operator is trapped in a besieged town and struggles to survive the madness around him.

Aida é tradutora da ONU na pequena cidade de Srebrenica. Quando o exército sérvio assume o controle da cidade, sua família está entre os milhares de cidadãos que procuram abrigo no acampamento da ONU.

A police officer Hamza has to work that night even though his wife has gone into labour, because the police are short-staffed. To make everything worse, it seems that people showing up at the station have decided to prove the old belief about the mysterious powers of the full moon and its influence on human behaviour. In the course of that one night, representatives of all the absurdity and tragedy of life in Bosnia and Herzegovina parade through the station and somehow help Hamza get ready for a new life.

In an urban war zone where everything that moves is a target, Paul tries to live, love and inform.

During a troublesome shooting of a short art film about a war crime at the location where it took place, three young independent filmmakers discover they are being watched by a stranger.

Tica (Birdy) a war orphan arrives to Sarajevo with his newborn daughter urgently needing surgical procedure. Facing his new appalling reality, Tica embarks into the night where demons of the past are always ready.

Anita e Bekim vão se casar e está tudo pronto para a festa. Quando o amante de Bekim reaparece depois de muito tempo ausente, uma chama ressurge e o evento ganha um tom dramático.

Inspirada em fatos reais, a história acontece na Bósnia e Herzegovina. Sabina, uma mulher divorciada, mãe de dois filhos pequenos, se apaixona por Sasha, um velho amigo com o qual serviu na guerra. Os dois planejam se casar, mas ele desaparece misteriosamente. Poucas semanas depois, Sabina vai ao médico e descobre que está grávida. À medida que sua gravidez avança, ela perde o emprego, e seu ex-marido tenta tirar dinheiro dela, ameaçando levar as crianças para longe. Sabina se desespera e decide acabar com a própria vida. Então, vai para um albergue e começa a engolir pílulas, ficando inconsciente. O que acontece em seguida está sujeito à opinião de quem assiste ao filme... Porém, uma coisa fica clara: Sabina nunca mais será a mesma.

Bota (Albanian for “the world”) is a cafe situated on the edge of a vast area of marshland in a remote part of Albania, and it is here that the lives of the protagonists intersect in this compelling debut by Iris Elezi and Thomas Logoreci. The directors skilfully exploit the genius loci of the desolate landscape and, aided by a period score and beguiling long shots, they flawlessly evoke the atmosphere of a place where the past still encroaches upon people’s lives.

Twice-orphaned Jace, a seven-year-old Albanian of Greek origin, witnesses a massacre that wipes out his entire foster family in Argyrokastron, and then falls in the hands of a bunch of ruthless gangsters who "export" children abroad for various profitable reasons (ranging from beggary to organ trade). Jace ends up in Athens, Greece, begging at street corners, exploring the secret horrors of brutal institutions for young offenders or, much later, serving obscure patrons, in an underworld where violent loss seems to be his only destiny. The movie follows Jace's inverted Odyssey in a dark universe of abuse, murder and fear, as he desperately (and silently) seeks for a "family" of his own or, at least, for a sense of belonging

Um jovem casal tenta superar obstáculos que ameaçam a sua relação. Quando Amar é demitido por beber no trabalho, aceita um emprego bem remunerado numa comunidade muçulmana fundamentalista afastada da cidade. Luna teme que o afastamento do marido interfira em seus planos de engravidar. Depois de ser proibida de se comunicar com Amar, ela é finalmente autorizada a visitá-lo na comunidade. Luna descobre um ambiente cheio de rituais – um mundo onde a vida diária de homens e mulheres é separada sob vigilância constante. Quando Amar volta pra casa semanas depois, ela nota que sua visão sobre religião mudou. Ela começa a questionar tudo em que antes acreditava, incluindo o desejo de ter um filho.

Suddenly a moment from the past, a shard of memory can surge, overwhelming the senses. Crystal snowflakes land precariously on pale birch trees, civilians shudder from the cold, soldiers in heavy jackets give orders.

Mahir is married to Geraldine for three years and still they have no children. So Mahir becomes convinced that he is pregnant. From that moment, he keeps throwing up.

Com o propósito de se tornar sócia de uma lanchonete com o namorado belga, a jovem albanesa Lorna vira cúmplice de um plano diabólico encabeçado pelo mafioso Fabio. Fabio orquestra um casamento arranjado entre a moça e um de seus capangas, Claudy, pois assim Lorna poderá obter sua cidadania belga. Passado algum tempo ela terá de se casar novamente, agora com um mafioso russo disposto a pagar muito dinheiro para também conquistar sua cidadania. Mas para que esse segundo casamento seja possível, Fabio tem um plano de assassinar Claudy. E Lorna deverá manter-se em silêncio sobre esse crime.

The director's fascination is the parallel world which exists behind the doors of big shopping malls. It is as if behind those doors everyday human problems do not exist. Yet, as we spend money, we all have to go back, through the same door, back to reality.

Sarajevo in 1992. Vedran, a once famous musician, tries to shelter his family from the madness of war. He hides them in his old house and goes out of his way to give them a normal day to day life. For a while he manages to keep the war at a distance, but when his daughter gets pregnant Vedran wants to give her a proper wedding in the old town hall

During the riots of 1997 in Albania the retired photographer PETRO travels from his hometown Gjirokastra to the capital Tirana. He has taken pictures of a killing with his Super-8-camera and wants to get the film developed. Petro doesn't know that he shot material that shows how a TV-camera causes the death of a man and his granddaughter in order to get a good story. Unfortunately Petro meets this cameraman - BERTI - on the trip to Tirana. When the film is finally developed Petro gets to know the truth - and he knows his life is in danger! After many adventures on the road he tries at last to present the film to the public. But he must realize that the material was stolen. So only Petro knows the truth while the media spread lies about the deaths of Girokastra.

Based on a true story, the film presents events similar to those in the Lukić indictment.

A man earns his first paycheck by driving his motorcycle, for the pleasure of rich people, through a mine field in Bosnia.

Set in Kosovo in 1990 at a time of political volatility as Yugoslavia is breaking apart, ERA tells the story of 17-year-old Era, a rebellious Albanian girl who has fallen in love with Betim, a man stuck between two worlds on account of his having an Albanian father and a Serbian mother. Era is forced not to see him for a while until the situation calms.