PRIFEST TO HOLD ITS 12th EDITION IN JULY

This year, PriFest – Prishtina International Film Festival will hold its 12^th edition.

After the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced many festivals around the world to either postpone or cancel their events, PriFest has decided, in coordination with health institutions in Kosovo and following different protocols, to hold its 12^th edition in July 14-19 as announced earlier.

Director of the festival Vjosa Berisha explains what this edition will look like:

"This year will be quite different for PriFest, however we have decided that we need to organize the festival mainly because our audience needs to return to normality slowly. It is important to bring back cultural and arts events so as to lift the spirits of people who have been in lockdown for three months. Moreover, our festival would suffer a big loss if we were to cancel this edition.

It is understandable that many things will change. First of all we plan to organize all the screenings in open air venues with several screens in the centre of the city. Unfortunately, very few of our international guests will be able to travel to Prishtina this year, therefore the regional film industry development platform PriForum will go online, where we can still engage with different experts, sales agents, filmmakers and film industry representatives, who will connect with us from their offices or homes. For our filmmakers from Kosovo and the region, crucial activities such as Best Pitch, Prishtina Rendezvous as well as our series of workshops will still feature in this edition, although they, as part of PriForum will be held online and live-streamed through our website and social media accounts.

A decision has been made to screen all films free of charge for the audience, to thank them for coming back and appreciating cinema. We will make sure to respect strict measures of social distancing, providing masks and sanitizers to the audience at all festival venues.

There won’t be as many films - the program has been halved - and we have decided not to hold a competitive edition this year seeing that we won’t be able to host international guests in our juries.

While all the screenings will be organised in evenings, during the day the festival square we will host different discussions, debates and interviews, both on site and online."

PriFest has already opened calls for Best Pitch for feature film projects, Prishtina Kino Kabaret and other activities.

We are also very happy that this year the PriFest team has grown to include new members who have joined to offer their expertise and support the organisation of the festival.

Claudia Landsberger, a renowned expert of the film industry with years of experience, has joined the PriForum team and will be co-managing PriForum together with Kosovar producer and actor Besnik Krapi, who joined the festival last year.

Jana Wolff, who has been with PriFest for years and is working with the European Film Market at Berlinale, will join again this year and advise on both Prishtina Rendezvous and PriForum, providing her industry expertise.

German expert Karen Dix, a well-known name from European Film Promotion’s Shooting Stars, has taken a leading advisory role in our actor-focused event Kosovo Rising Stars, which will open up to the region this year. She will be working together with Vjosa Berisha, festival head, to design this program.

More Raҫa, young filmmaker from Kosovo, will be coordinating Prishtina Kino Kabaret.

The 12^th edition of PriFest is scheduled for 14-19 July, while PriForum dates are 17-19 July.

Follow us on social media to learn everything you need to know about all the events which will take place in this year’s edition.

Friendship. Forever. PriFest