Ariel Shaban Director of "The Wedding Tape"

How did the writing process of your film look like?

To tell the truth, where I am today has a lot to do with NISI MASA, a European network of young film enthusiasts associations. Since I am not a filmmaker by education, I could not find the way to get into the industry except of this organization. First, I applied to the script contest, for which I wrote the script of the film, and this opened the opportunity to find funding like the Kosovo Film Fund and co-production partners in Germany. Talking about the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, I would advise to any filmmaker to apply to. Here you can get an international view to your story, so if you are interested in connections between East and West, this is the most important festival to be. This place is particularly substantial to me, because 90% of the Kosovo inhabitants are Muslims.

Although you haven’t graduated from a film school, your film looks very professional…

This is because the making process took almost three years, which is a very long time for a short. I consider these three years as a school, and I want to do a couple of shorts to learn more. Besides I like the short format itself; feature films are too big to fail. You can say that short films are business cards to the big feature, even though they don’t sell and you can’t make a living with them.

I still insist on developing a classical storytelling. It is like the ABC to me: you have to know the rules before starting to ruin them, for example in my next film. Besides, the actors of The Wedding Tape are the best professionals in Kosovo, but I want to work in the future with upcoming actors as well. I think we can learn from each other a lot, if we are in the same stage of development.

The story begins with the embassy agent asking the visa application for a wedding tape as a proof of the existing marriage. Is it a personal story?

It is not my personal story, but almost everybody has such stories with the visa application in Kosovo. I chose this one, because this was the most appealing. Of course it is also based on very true elements, because the case of the wedding tape and the fake wedding is a story what I have indeed heard about. I am not 100% sure, because I wasn’t there, but I can believe that there are people who would go so far to get their visas. As you see, the main story is not about the authorities, but about love for a woman and for the family. We can say that this is a personal film on the dilemma of leaving Kosovo. It is a conflict which has been for a long time with me. In each moment, when I am thinking if I should stay or of I should go, I have to find the balance somehow.

What have you decided to do?

Well, obviously I stay. I live in Kosovo. Nowadays, I am working on a script based on the 1999 war in Kosovo from the aspect of marginalized people. I am especially interested in stories of the women and youth of Kosovo. There is a generation who didn’t experience the war, but they are living in an environment, which constantly talks about it. The marks of the war are still everywhere, the reality of the older people is very much connected to them. I was a kid in that times, so I remember very well. The memories of war are fresh and defining moments, which shape your character for the entire life. One way or another, these memories come to my movies, although not necessarily on the forefront.

by Janka Barkoczi