The Beauty of the Donkey

synopsis

After decades in exile, Asllan returns with his daughter to his native village in Kosovo to work with local residents to revive the world of his childhood, which was destroyed by war. Through staged memories, interviews with eyewitnesses and intensive collaboration with the community, he attempts to uncover the truth about the past and understand how it shaped the present. The process of reconstructing memories reveals the tension between an idealised past and a reality marked by loss, trauma and uprooting. The donkey present in the story serves as a metaphor for patience, continuity and memory, but at the same time it is a very real, symptomatic animal for village life and the daily rhythm of the community. The intimate dialogue between father and daughter transforms into a broader reflection on collective memory, identity and man's relationship to home, with the film showing the power of community in the shared search for meaning and understanding. The work combines elements of documentary reconstruction, performative gesture and poetic realism, creating a multi-layered statement about the relationship between the past and the present.

“Everything was so present and intense. All of us were vivacious.”

biography

Swiss-Albanian director and producer Dea Gjinovci (b. 1993) studied Ethnographic and Documentary Film at University College London. Her documentaries have been screened at numerous international festivals, including Visions du Réel, IDFA in Amsterdam, the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, and Dokufest in Kosovo.

film details

director:	Dea Gjinovci
producer:	Dea Gjinovci, Palmyre Badinier
script:	Dea Gjinovci
photography:	Maxime Kathari
editing:	Lizi Gelber
music:	Gael Kyriakidis
sound:	Pellumb Ballata (Sound recording), Ilù Seydoux (Sound recording), Adina Istrate (Sound recording), Maxence Ciekawy (Sound mix)
sound design:	Henry Sims
co-producer:	Ilir Hasanaj, Emma Lepers
executive producer:	Maida Lynn

contact

Léa Sierro/Astrae Productions
lea.sierro@gmail.com