OSCE Mission presents human rights documentaries at Kosovo’s DokuFest film festival

Last night, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo presented five short documentaries on human rights and democratic values, as part of the DokuFest International Documentary and Short Film Festival held in Prizren.

The documentaries are the result of two film-making camps organized by the OSCE Mission and DokuFest with 20 young women and men from Novi Pazar, Podgorica and Prishtinë/Priština. The participants were mentored by award-winning director Blerta Zeqiri, filmmaker Leart Rama, and Eroll Bilibani, the head of DokuFest’s educational department, DokuLab.

Through a collaborative film-making process, the participants produced their documentaries on challenges faced by underrepresented members of society. Each film brings the author’s strong points of view on the topics explored, which range from an experimental observation of a can-collector living in extreme poverty, to the story of a woman on a journey to find her true self.

“Together with DokuFest, this year we enabled a forum for young people to discuss equal opportunities and joint problems, and helped them develop the knowledge and skills to play an active part in society,” said Ambassador Michael Davenport, Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo. “By empowering and building capacities of various groups through these projects, we aim to foster networking and inter-societal co-operation among young people who want to advance dialogue and human rights through their personal example.”

The event continued the long-standing collaboration between the OSCE Mission in Kosovo and DokuFest, where every year the Mission has supported events on topics such as youth, gender equality, media and information literacy.

For more information on DokuFest, see their website here: www.dokufest.com