BABAI

Ten-year-old Nori lives in pre-war Kosovo, and his father Gezim is the centre of his world. Then, one day, Gezim disappears without warning to look for work in Germany. Nori sets out to find him, embarking on a dangerous journey at the end of which he actually reaches his father in Germany – where the reunion puts the bond between them to a new test. “Babai” (“Father”, Kosovo/Germany 2015) is the feature debut of Visar Morina, who tells the story consistently from the child’s perspective; Val Maloku plays Nori.

It premiered on 28 June 2015 at the Munich Film Festival, where the film received three New German Cinema Award prizes – for direction, screenplay and acting. In Karlovy Vary, Morina was named Best Director, and Kosovo submitted “Babai” for the Foreign Language Oscar. With a budget of 1.7 million euros, raised from partners in Kosovo, Germany, Macedonia and France, it was the country’s most expensive production. At Around the World in 14 Films, the film was shown in Berlin in 2015 in the German Night section.

Shown at the 2015 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.

All films 2015 · Film Archive