“Phantom Youth”, interview with director Luàna Bajrami

September 8, 2023

Luàna Bajrami, director of "Phantom Youth", talks to FRED about her directorial debut, premiered in Orizzonti Extra

"Phantom Youth", interview with director Luàna Bajrami David Martos

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Interview during the 80th edition of Venice International Film Festival with Luàna Bajrami, director of the film “Phantom Youth (Bota Jonë)” in its original title in Albanian). The movie, premiered in Orizzonti Extra, takes place several years after the war in the Balkans, and revolves around the lives of two teenagers that try to find their place in the world.

Luàna Bajrami is also an actress, and during her interview with FRED she tells us that her work in movie sets throughout the years was a great directing school. In fact she reveals that she began acting in order to become a moviemaker someday. And she was particularly interested in the dreams and aspirations of young people.

“Phantom Youth” takes place in Kosovo in 2007. Zoé and Volta leave their remote village to enter Pristina University. Amidst social and political tensions, the two women discover a country in turmoil, seeking its identity on the eve of independence and whose youth has been forgotten.

Plot

In 2007, eight years after the war, Kosovo is still under United Nations protectorate, awaiting independence. The youth of this country to be is torn between culture and status, tradition and globalisation, pain and resilience. A deliberate echo to the journey of our two heroines, Zoé and Volta. They flee from their village, dreaming of a better future. Searching for their place in this society, where ambitions collide with reality. This film as a chronicle tells a little about Kosovar youth, but it’s much more about the world’s youth. Its questions being universal. Everyone dreams, but the more time passes, the more those dreams dwindle, and hope with them. Don’t dream dreams, they said.

Written by: David Martos

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