"Kenedi Is Getting Married", A new documentary-feature film by Želimir Žilnik
The premiere of the new film by our most awarded film director, Želimir Žilnik, entitled "Kennedy is getting married", and whose screenings have already been announced at festivals in Venice, Trieste, and Berlin, will be an opportunity to watch a series of films about the fate of Kennedy Hasani, Roma without of clear origin and residence, as well as without a stable social identity, social and economic position, when mere guidance and passion for life place them in a series of very bizarre situations. His character, described through a very specific mixture of documentary and fiction, grows into a symptom of the state of today's order, in which entire populations are reduced to mere biomass, and individuals whose social status is not economically and symbolically secured are forced into constant nomadism.
Screening program at the Student Cultural Center, June 20, 2007
19:00 announcement of films and a few words about the context of the work of Želimir Žilnik
19:15 Kenedi Goes Back Home, documentary-feature film, 75 minutes, 2003.
21:00 Kenedi, Lost and Found, documentary, 26 minutes, 2005.
21:30 short break and presentation of the actors who are guests at the premiere
21:45 Kenedi Is Getting Married, feature film, 80 minutes, 2007, world premiere
Summary of films:
Kenedi Goes Back Home
the documentary-feature film, 75 minutes; production: Terra film and Multiradio, 2003
Participants: Kennedy Hasani, Denis Ajeti, Džemšit Buzoli, Sabaheta Alijević, Mevlan Alijević and many others.
The film is about people who fled to EU countries during the wars of the 1990s, spent several years there, gave birth to children, and enrolled them in schools. In 2002, in the "re-admission process", they were torn out of work, schools, and apartments and returned to Serbia by rough and inhumane police action, and in Serbia, they were exposed to difficulties of survival and in many cases, inability to educate children. The focus of the film is on the position of the Roma, as the most endangered part of the returned population. Especially Roma from Kosovo, who are prevented from staying in the settlements and houses from which they fled the war.
Kenedi, Lost and Found
documentary, 26 minutes; production: Terra film, 2005
Participants: Kennedy Hasani and Denis Ajeti.
After participating in the film, Kennedy Hasani decided to go illegally again to EU countries, where his father, mother, brothers, and sisters remained. In 2003, he was caught illegally crossing the Hungarian-Austrian border and spent several months in a camp. He then managed to escape to Austria, then to Germany and the Netherlands. The film crew met him in Vienna, in January 2005, at the screening of the film "Kennedy Returns Home", at the university. The documentary follows Kennedy's experiences of re-exile, and a new return to the country: the protagonist makes an important decision to start building a house, thus preparing for the upcoming "readmission procedure" to which other family members will soon be exposed.
Kenedi Is Getting Married
feature film, 80 minutes; production: Terra film in collaboration with Jet. Co.- VK TV, 2007.
Participants: Kennedy Hasani, Salji Hasani, Saip Hasani, Max Steiner, Philipp Eisenmann.
Kennedy built a house and got into debt. Doing various jobs, he and his brother are trying to repay the debt. The salary is ten euros, and the prospects for earnings are weak. Kennedy also decides on love services, in exchange for money. First with old ladies and widows, and then with wealthier men. Having learned about the new, liberal laws in the EU, he is interested in contacts with a potential groom who would enable him legal status in Europe. He finds Max, an idyll is born and it seems that a solution is on the horizon ...