Dua

Being a teenager is chaos. Let alone having to spend that time in a conflict zone. Thirteen-year-old Dua lives with her family in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, in the late 1990s, when Serbian troops were brutally persecuting the Albanian majority. Through her eyes, we see how parties and school life become impossible as danger creeps ever deeper into her life. Inspired by director Blerta Basholli’s own memories, her second feature film poignantly captures the clash between a carefree childhood and a country on the brink of collapse. Through long takes and fluid camera movements, we observe alongside Dua as ethnic tensions cause judo halls to empty and leave entire households in fear. Following her acclaimed debut Hive (2021), about the aftermath of the Kosovo War, Basholli puts Kosovar cinema back on the map with this coming-of-age portrait, which she says was influenced by the Dardenne brothers.