Kurti praises Visar Morina and the film “Shame and Money

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has expressed his appreciation for director Visar Morina and his film “Shame and Money.” He said that on Sunday he presented the award for best film at PriFest, while on Tuesday he welcomed the director to the Prime Minister’s Office.

In a Facebook post, Kurti wrote that Morina comes from Çikatova e Vjetër in Drenas, where Serbian forces killed several members of his family in April 1999. According to Kurti, the director continued his journey all the way to Berlin, Germany, becoming one of the most prominent directors from Kosovo and the Albanian nation.

Kurti said that he was joined at the meeting in the Prime Minister’s Office by Minister of Culture and Tourism Saranda Bogujevci and Kosovo Cinematography Center Director Blerta Zeqiri.

“On Sunday, I had the honor of presenting him with the award for best film at PriFest for ‘Shame and Money,’ while on Tuesday, together with Minister of Culture and Tourism Saranda Bogujevci and Kosovo Cinematography Center Director Blerta Zeqiri, we welcomed director Visar Morina to the Prime Minister’s Office,” Kurti wrote.

The prime minister also discussed the way the film portrays reality, describing it as a powerful social drama.

“The camera breathing down Shaban’s sweaty neck, the radiant glow of Hatixhe’s worried face, with families of people as they are in the family world as it is, unfolds into a powerful social drama that stays with you because you cannot take your eyes off it for those two hours,” Kurti said.

He compared Morina’s film to the work of directors Ken Loach and Mike Leigh, saying that a collaboration between them to depict Kosovo’s poor Albanian working class would produce a similar result.

“If Ken Loach and Mike Leigh came together to make a contemporary film about Kosovo’s poor Albanian working class, the result would be Visar Morina’s film ‘Shame and Money,’” he wrote.

Kurti announced that “Shame and Money” will begin screening at CinePlexx on September 25 and urged people to watch the film.

“Definitely watch it,” Kurti wrote.