December 27, 2024 | Friday
To mark the International Migrants Day, EU in Kosovo and Europe House Kosovo organised a screening of Samir Karahoda’s films, “In Between”, “Displaced,” and “On the Way,” at Kino ABC in Pristina on 18 December 2024. The event delved into themes of migration and displacement, followed by an engaging public talk with the film director.
“In Between”, Karahoda’s first film (2019) captures the phenomenon of families building identical houses in rural Kosovo, hoping for the return of loved ones who have emigrated abroad. “Displaced” (2021) tells the award-winning story of two table tennis players in post-war Kosovo striving to keep their sport alive. His latest film, “On the Way” (2024), portrays a 15-minute journey during which a father and son discuss migration, reflecting the challenges faced by the Kosovar society today.
Karahoda’s artistic practice is unique. He looks deep into local stories and stays loyal to portraying their depth and complexity in each of his films. We spoke to him to learn more about what inspires his artistic practice and what messages he wants to deliver through his films. Read the interview below.
Europe House Kosovo: Before delving into the theme of your films, let’s talk a bit about your artistic practice. Your first two films, “In Between” (2019) and “Displaced” (2021), are documentaries, while “On the Way” (2024) is fiction. However, in all three films, a very elegant blend between fiction and non-fiction can be noticed. Although “On the Way” is fiction, meaning it has a script, it gives the impression to the viewers that the entire narrative is very spontaneous. How does this artistic practice work? Because this seems like an aesthetic decision, not something accidental.
Samir Karahoda: First of all, it should be noted that whenever I make films, I do not limit myself to time. I never say, “I’m going to shoot this film in January, it will take me five days, it will take ten days.” I haven’t practiced this with any of my films. For example, the making of the film “In Between” took about two years; the film “Displaced” took about seven months, whereas the latest one, since it had a script, took about a month. What I usually practice is that whenever I shoot, I come home, watch the materials, and see if it turns out the way I imagined it, and then, depending on the material and the process, I start thinking about the next part of the film.
But, it often happened to me that even during the shooting, I changed some things on the spot. I noticed that this work is more related to the instinct of the moment. For example, with the film “On the Way,” I didn’t know the ending. The ending of the film was written differently in the script, but I was uncertain about that ending the whole time, until the last day of shooting when I decided, “Let the film end this way!” Initially, the script had foreseen that in the last scene, when the protagonists park, there would be a dialogue, a phone conversation with the boy’s mother, but on that day, I decided that it’s better like this because if we add something at the end, it might ruin everything. So, at that moment, I said it’s better for them to park the car, get out of the car, walk away, and life goes on. They will continue to face these issues in the future, but as long as they are together, they will always manage to do what they want to do.
For example, I had the same approach with the film “Displaced.” The bar scene there, which for me is one of the most powerful scenes in the film. Even though I spent a lot of time with the protagonists of the film “Displaced,” on that day in the bar, while we were waiting for it to empty from people to start shooting, I understood their dream of going to Tokyo for a world championship that is held every two years. Since my films are about everyday life, ordinary people, and the place we live in, where something changes every day, I think it is better to work in this way because I think this method gives me more space to express myself and keep the story fresh.
Europe House Kosovo: In terms of what we know as cinematography, in your films, I see a disregard for conventional cinematography rules and norms, yet they stay very true to the spirit of storytelling. I have the impression that this has to do with your call for photography and your long experience as a photographer, where all you need to do is observe people, emotions, and capture the moment. I have the impression that photography has brought you closer to human feeling, which then reflects in your films. What do you think about this transition, and how does your experience as a photographer help you in filmmaking?
Samir Karahoda: Yes, that’s true. In my films, photography is not perfect in the technical sense of the word. For example, in “Displaced,” I used light in only one scene, while the other two films were shot without lighting. As I said, the photography is not perfect in the technical sense, but it has depth. They are deep shots.
I will never forget a comment from a colleague from Portugal, with whom I was in competition at Cannes. He said to me, “In your films, what you see happens, but everything you see with your eyes also has another meaning.” That is the goal of my films. Through photography, I have the opportunity to intervene to express my inner self or to express how the characters in the film feel without needing them to speak much. Through photography, I can magnify what they say so that it has a greater impact.
Europe House Kosovo: Have you ever thought that this transition from still image photography to moving image photography like film would happen, or did you feel that still image photography wasn’t giving you enough and that you needed to see it in motion?
Samir Karahoda: In fact, that’s how it started. I did the project “In Between” as a photographic project. It was an assignment in my master’s program. My professor was very impressed with the topic, and he said, “I want to see more. Why don’t you go a bit deeper into this topic because I see potential to touch on anthropological issues, social issues…”
When I started going to talk to these families, the story of migration came out, which I didn’t know about because I had always photographed these houses from the outside. Only through conversations did I realize that most of these houses are actually empty. This pushed me more to start dealing with film because there are indeed some things that are impossible to show only through photography. This story seems to have been completed and complemented with the narratives we have from the families, and for me, it is a work that will live on because the problem of migration will continue to be relevant in Kosovo because, even though more than two decades have passed since the end of the war, people are still not happy with the developments that are happening.
The number of migrations today, compared to before the war when it was indeed quite high, unfortunately, is an indicator that this problem will not be solved for quite a while. Somehow, I have a belief that we are born to live abroad! Maybe because of the circumstances, maybe because of the history we have had… The consequences of the war are still very much present. I think that this period and the transition process have greatly impacted society where everyone expected things to be fixed quickly, but what we have seen and continue to see is something that none of us expected.
Europe House Kosovo: While “In Between” deals with the consequences of migration, “Displaced” and even “On the Way” in a way address the circumstances that sometimes lead to the decision to migrate. In “Displaced,” we have two people who are very enthusiastic, wanting to go to Tokyo for a competition but living in a place where they have to do other jobs because they can’t live off their passion. Then in “On the Way,” there is a very intimate moment between the father and his son; for me, it was a very powerful moment when the father goes to collect the award, and they tell him he has to pay postage fees for retrieving the trophy. When he returns to the car, his son asks, “Why didn’t you take it?” The father doesn’t tell him the real reason, as if trying to protect him from reality, not to reinforce his desire to leave the country…
Samir Karahoda: That was indeed the intention in the script because I have this debate with my son very often. Even today, he insists that we should move somewhere else to live because he has his own reasons. This whole conversation that you see in the film “On the Way” started from a trip we took together, and most of the dialogue you see in the film is what I discussed with my son that day, only our conversation was much longer and much more complex. Everything started with the national football team, but his reasoning was, why should I go and play football when I will never have a place on the team because those who grew up in Germany, Switzerland, or anywhere else will always have priority. That’s why I made the character a goalkeeper because at that time, our national football team had only one player from Kosovo, who was a reserve goalkeeper. That’s why I made it so that his dream is to become a goalkeeper, at least to find a place on the team.
This is perhaps something that the responsible sports institutions should keep in mind because young people get very discouraged by these things. This was one of the reasons I decided to include the son’s situation, how they feel, and how this reflects on them because wanting to migrate at the age of 13 is quite heavy. This is also connected to his close friends, three of whom have migrated, which has increased his desire to move somewhere else.
Europe House Kosovo: How was the process of writing and making the film with your son?
Samir Karahoda: This all started when I was at Cannes for the first time. When I returned, my son insisted, “Let’s make a feature film!” He said, “I’ll write a two-page story, and if you like it, I’ll develop it into ninety pages and make a script!” So he started writing stories from time to time; he wrote about five or six stories, and interestingly, none of them took place in Kosovo, which left a big impression on me.
Then we had this trip where we went to the airport that day. That journey felt very long to me because of the pressure I felt from my son’s arguments, so when we got home, I sat down and started thinking. I called him and said, “What do you think about making a film about the day we had today?” He said, “Why, what happened, what kind of day?” I said, “Everything we talked about on the way, about your dissatisfaction.” He said, “Sure! Should I start writing?” I started by writing down what I had heard that day and developing it into a script, then I gave him the file and said, “Here you go, add whatever you want!” He started contributing from time to time, and every time I made a new draft of the script, I would give it to him to correct, if there was anything to add. This is how the process went, working together.
Europe House Kosovo: Your films have traveled to major festivals and have had extraordinary successes, which are widely known. However, these are very local stories that reflect many cultural nuances of our society from an anthropological perspective. What are people’s thoughts, and how do you deal with the audience? Do they understand these cultural specifics?
Samir Karahoda: As you mentioned, all the stories are made with ordinary people; there are no heroes, no grand narratives. But I think that behind these stories, there are bigger things. The beauty is that always… What is worth mentioning is that each of these films expresses sincerity. There is no exaggeration, nothing. It’s just what people are, without trying to show more or exaggerate. The feedback I have always received from people is about how I manage to make such a small theme so accessible to everyone, because I think that should be the goal of every director—that the work should be understandable everywhere in the world and relatable to everyone. Not everyone has our problems, but the elements in the film are universal. I think this makes these films more complete and, because of this, they can be understood from anywhere in the world.
Sometimes I say, “I wouldn’t want anything more in life than to be like my films and travel the world.” This makes me feel very good that our films and stories, coming from a small place, are being shown and sparking interest worldwide. “In Between,” for example, was made five years ago, “Displaced” three years ago, and there are still requests from various parts of the world. For example, a month ago, “Displaced” was shown in Indonesia at a local screening in a neighborhood. This makes me feel good that we are taking a part of our story all over the world and people are enjoying watching it.
If we link them to migration, these three films have a connection because when you watch all three together, they give you a portrait of Kosovo. If you want to describe each film with one word, the first film represents those who have left, the second one those who have returned, and the third those who want to leave.
Europe House Kosovo: Thank you very much!