ECHO
Dren Zherka| Director | Dren Zherka |
| Producer | Dren Zherka - MAGUS Film, Alban Zogjani - ASHA |
| Writer | Dren Zherka |
| Cast | Klara Hofels, Selman Jusufi |
| Editor | Alex Tochterle |
| Camera | Alex Bloom |
| Sound | Sven Jensen Brakelmann, Pellumb Ballata |
| Screening | 3 November 2017 | 19:45 hours | Filmhuis Den Haag 4 November 2017 | 19:45 hours | Filmhuis Den Haag |
| Original Title | EHO |
| Year | 2016 |
| Length | 93 min |
| Country | Germany/Kosovo |
| Subtitles | English |
| Section | NEW VOICES - feature length films |
”In Germany and Kosovo, countries I both call home, the social and economical situation is very different in these times of dynamic change and overloaded working hours”, says the director, the winner of the Silver Zenith award at Montreal World Film Festival. The film explores loss and loneliness in transitional Kosovo and rapidly changing Germany through destiny of two aging parents. Screenings will be followed by Q&A with the director Dren Zherka.
Synopsis
A woman in Germany starts a journey to explore the life of a dead illegal immigrant and finds her own loneliness, and an old man in Kosovo whos loss has brought him to the end of his journey. After an accident, she tries to condole with the young man`s family out of guilt. Little by little, she is involuntarily exploring the young man`s life in Germany and opening her own well of sadness. In the meantime, Ismet in Kosovo neither asks for, nor expects any help from others, having lost everything in life he worked hard to build. He has lost his wife and daughter in a senseless rage of war and their presence still perpetuates inside his half-burned house. Now he has lost his son as well.
Festivals & Awards (selection)
Montreal World Film Festival, 2016 – Winner of Silver Zenith | Hofer Filmtagen, 2016 | Mumbai International Film Festival, 2016 | ÉCU The European Independent Film Festival, 2017 – Best Actor | Durban International Film Festival, 2017 | Filmfestival Kitzbühel, 2017
Director's statement
Growing older, my perspective on family and friendship has become even more important. What happens when these bonds and liaisons break, through social chaos or our hyper-fast pragmatic way of life? This film has been swelling in me as I was seeing a lot of dear people around me pass away. My own connection with my family is changing and evolving. It’s a new feeling for me and makes me want to understand more of the future that awaits us and dwell more on the meaning of being there and caring for each other. In Germany and Kosovo, countries I both call home, the social and economical situation is very different in these times of dynamic change and overloaded working hours. The evolution and change of the family, an older building block of the society, and the universal needs that keep us together, is seen through two different perspectives and how they deal with it differently.