What do you know about the Balkan region? What have you heard about these countries that are situated so close geographically but where most international students did never go before? The documentary film festival in Pangaea provides an introduction in the region.

Countries belonging to this cultural and geopolitical region are full of unrevealed secrets and long traditions they would be happy to tell to every person discovering them. In February and March, every Wednesday evening Pangaea gave us the chance to pay a short virtual visit to the inner life of the Balkan countries. Those interested were given the chance to watch the documentaries for free thanks to the European Stability Initiative (ESI). The main objective of the documentary festival is give students from all over the world a better understanding of the problems and recent developments of a region that has a clear EU perspective.

As on of the organizes of this event, Enis Xhemaili, students at K.U.Leuven and citizen of the Republic of Kosovo, says “after the successful release of these movies (the project itself is the winner of the 2008 Erasmus European Media Award) it was decided that it would be a great idea to show them to the students of K.U.Leuven so that they could learn more about the Balkan countries.” The festival started at the anniversary of Kosovo’s Independence Day; Kosovo declared its independence on February 17th 2008; that makes it the youngest country in the world.

Every documentary is followed by a discussion. The participants receive firsthand answers on their questions from students orginating from the Balkans that are studying at K.U.Leuven.

The Voice asked Enis Xhemaili, who moderated the debates, a couple of questions:

The Voice - Do you think that the story told in the documentaries is unprejudiced?

Enis: Some movies were focused more on positive changes, while the others were transmitting negative pieces of reality on the ground. Nevertheless, every single story is real and topics revealed by the movies are real. Besides, this event was richer in its content, as after each movie there was an opportunity for discussion and comments. Furthermore, there were students present coming from these countries, who provided more information.

The Voice - Did you like the movies?

Enis: I love the movies especially because they gave us, the future of this part of Europe, a perfect opportunity to open the debate. Around 75 percent of Kosovo population is under 30 years old, so it will be up to us to solve the social and political problems people in the Balkans have to face with.

The Voice - Some people had the impression that all movies of this series were to a larger or lesser extend made from an optimistic point of view. Do you agree?

Enis: The series itself is called ‘Return to Europe’. Of course, the message should be optimistic. In spite of all the difficulties we have to cope with, we remain very optimistic and are willing to contribute to a better future for all in the Balkans, and wider, in the European Union.

The Voice - A lot of students show an interest in the festival. How do you explain this?

Enis: First, this comes from the idea itself. At this time, there is more attention given to the Balkans because it is one of the only few European regions that is not in the EU. Other reasons may be that the audience is very diverse: students who live in the region, students who do their masters about the Balkans. I am glad we could provide this opportunity, thanks to Pangaea, to ESI and to ERSTE Foundation.

Those who missed the opportunity to watch the movies can find all relevant information on the website of the project www.returntoeurope.org. "Return to Europe” is an initiative by ERSTE Foundation based on research by the European Stability Initiative (ESI) and co-produced by ORF, ORF/3sat and Pre TV. |