Does It Hurt? – The First Balkan Dogma
Macedonia-The Netherlands-Kosova, 2007, 98 min, color

For a change, a true film about a fictional event, instead of the other way round. Young Macedonian-Dutch filmmaker lies to her best friends and in this way makes the first Balkan (and Dutch) Dogma film.
In this debut by Aneta Lesnikovska, who originally came from Macedonia but now lives in Holland, reality is based on fiction and vice versa. The director translates her own life and that of her friends to a fictional situation. Most of her friends are actors and film makers who do everything but act and make films. There is no money, no fund that makes film making possible in a country like Macedonia, so she sets to work according to the rules of Dogma. Not just to help her friends find some work, but also to fulfil her own desire: to make her first full-length film. She lies to her friends that she has found foreign producers who are willing to finance the film. They have to wait for the Danish producers, who never come. In the meantime, she keeps researching and asks all her friends to tell their life stories. The whole process is filmed and what was once intended as preparation turns into the film itself. The distinction between fiction and reality is impossible to define in the end. Does It Hurt? is the first Balkan film shot according to the rules of Dogma, made to mark the 10th anniversary of the Dogma manifesto. And maybe even more than a formal Dogma drama, Does It Hurt? is a personal, refreshing and amusing document about the film maker and her friends.

Tonight Is Cancelled
Brendan Grant | Ireland, Kosovo | 2007
“…their lives are played out against the backdrop of the past”
It’s 2000, and Edi, a young man in his teens is caught up in the early phases of the war in Kosovo. Captured and held captive for three years, his girlfriend and family waited, never knowing if he was alive or dead.
Aida, his girlfriend, left alone in an instant like many another victims of the war, spent three years waiting, three years of her life spent on standby. One day, soon after the war ended he walked back into her life and their lives continued as before.
It’s now 2006. Edi works at his family’s quarry and Aida at a local travel agency; she celebrates her 25th birthday and wants to get married. A film director, Donal, has arrived in town. He read a newspaper article about the young couple and their extraordinary experiences during the war and wants to make a film about them. Aida warms to the idea while Edi is more reticent as Donal struggles to convince them to take part in the project.
As his presence throws a hard light on their lives we discover the cracks and lesions that even the most seemingly perfect romances are given to, as their lives are played out against the constant backdrop of their past.

Running Time 85 mins | Colour | 35mm
Producers Macdara Kelleher, Brendan Grant, Arben Zharku, Nehat Fejza
Script Brendan Grant
Cast Bubulina Lajçi, Mark O’Halloran, Edi Agagjyshi