Norika Sefa – Looking for Venera #TSFF33

PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Norika Sefa, director of the film Looking for Venera.

Screen daily Neil Young’s review on Looking for Venera quotes: Norika Sefa’s luminous debut Looking For Venera confirms tiny Kosovo is currently on a wave”. The director, in Trieste to present her film in the official competition at the 33rd TSFF, describes this wave and her work on her debut film, a coming of age drama showing how it feels to be growning up in a big family, a patriarchic society and a small town. With a documentary approach and almost non-professional actors ( the grandma in the film is Sefa’s grandma in real life) the film follows Norika’s quest for her identity while keeping well in mind that we never stop coming of age. Looking for Venera was presented, as a project, in the co-production market When East meets West some years ago and Norika Sefa talks about the feelings of bringing it back to Trieste where it all started. 

Looking for Venera : Calm, taciturn teenager Venera lives in a small village in Kosovo. At home, three generations are constantly under one another’s feet in their cramped house, so she has hardly any privacy. Outside too, on the streets and in the café, it’s not much better: the village is small and there’s always a brother, nephew or neighbour keeping a beady eye on her. A girl is expected above all else to protect her good reputation – and that of her family. All of which makes it difficult for Venera to go her own way. Her spirits are lifted when she makes friends with rebellious Dorina, who already has a boyfriend. The two girls go out having fun together, as far as Venera’s father allows. One thing they know for sure: they don’t want to end up like their mothers. In competition at the latest Rotterdam Film Festival, where it received the Special Jury Award, Looking for Venera was selected also at Sarajevo and IndieLisboa film festivals.

To discover more about Looking for Venera, click here.