A quiet drama abuzz with female liberation.
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A Kosovo war widow fights her patriarchal village for an independent life in this Sundance prizewinner.
More than 20 years ago, the Kosovo war with Serbia and Montenegro left 12,000 dead and more than 3,000 missing, mainly Kosovar Albanians. In
Hive (
Zgjoi), her first feature, writer-director Blerta Basholli is inspired by the true story of Fahrije Hoti, a single mother who, many years after her husband goes missing, is forced by economic necessity to face his loss. Instead of focusing on her emotional journey, Basholli crafts an engrossing, utterly classic tale of overcoming adversity around how she bucks the hide-bound town, gets out of the house and finds a job that will support her family.
Hive the hope he still lives buzzes in her ear. When he comes back, her crippled father-in-law, Haxhi (Cun Lajci) says whenever her missing husband s name is mentioned. If he comes back is her constant rejoinder, even though both inwardly know this is an impossible dream. Fahrije is edging towards acceptance of the fact that one day his remains (either disinterred from a mass grave, or dredged from the river) will be in one of those white bags that arrive by the truck full. It s a story of increments, not of steps: a DNA test, selling tools that will never be used again, and the biggest step for Fahrije - establishing a new business. As her family s small honey business barely raises enough to cover a few bills, she starts selling ajvar, a rustic roasted red pepper and eggplant sauce that will remind city dwellers of the countryside.
Top row: CODA, Courtesy of Sundance Institute; Summer of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised), photo by Mass Distraction Media; Flee, courtesy of Sundance Institute. Bottom row: Hive, photo by Alexander Bloom; Writing With Fire, courtesy of Sundance Institute; Ma Belle, My Beauty, courtesy of Sundance Institute. Park City, UT After six days and 73 feature films, the 2021 Sundance Film Festival’s Awards Ceremony took place tonight, hosted by actor and comedian Patton Oswalt, with jurors presenting 24 prizes for feature filmmaking and seven for Short Films. Honorees, named in total below, represent new achievements in global independent storytelling. Bold, intimate, and humanizing stories prevailed across categories, with Grand Jury Prizes awarded to
Posted on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2021 by Chris Evangelista
Today, the Golden Globe nominations were announced, and the results were pretty bad! So perhaps we should try to cleanse our palates with the 2021 Sundance Film Festival awards. This year’s Sundance was virtual, and while that experience can’t hold a candle to being on the ground in Park City, the festival organizers deserver lots of credit for putting the fest together in any capacity and running it smoothly. While I found a lot of the films I saw this year to be lacking, there were still plenty of noteworthy titles. Lots of attention was paid to
18 movies you can see at Sidewalk during Sundance Film Festival
Updated Jan 13, 2021;
Posted Jan 11, 2021 Philly D.A., a documentary about Larry Krasner, Philadelphia’s district attorney, will be screened in Birmingham on Feb. 2, 2021, at the Sidewalk Cinema and Sidewalk Starlite Pop-Up Drive-In. The screenings are part of the Sidewalk lineup as a satellite venue for the Sundance Film Festival.(PBS)
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The Sidewalk Film Festival has announced the lineup of movies that will screen in Birmingham as part of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Fifteen films will be presented, Jan. 28-Feb. 3, at the Sidewalk Film Center and Cinema, 1821 Second Ave. North, and the Sidewalk Starlite Pop-Up Drive-In, 1801 First Ave. North.