Description
Lume has nightmares – cow heads and flayed feet populate her dreams – leading her to wonder if they’re why she can’t get pregnant. They could also be symptoms of PTSD stemming from the Kosovo War of the late 1990s. When her mother-in-law demands she see a healer, who tells her she’s possessed, Zana strays interestingly into horror film territory with chilling visuals vividly contrasting light and dark. In this way, Kastrati provocatively explores the clash between ancient myths and traditions and more modern crises of mental health.
“The debut feature from Kosovo-born, LA-based writer/director Antoneta Kastrati is an astute, unflinching account of a mind broken by post traumatic stress … Kastrati’s documentarian’s eye – she spent the last decade making factual films dealing with social and environmental issues in Kosovo – captures rich details in the simple lives of Lume and her community. It’s a contradictory world that Kastrati captures, one in which faith in God and in the powers of hucksters and healers are complementary rather than mutually exclusive.” –Wendy Ide, Screen Daily
Kosovo native Antoneta Kastrati studied directing at the American Film Institute and began her career editing, producing, and directing documentaries. Her films include Seeking Magic (2009), The Guardian (2010), and The Kingdom of Coal (2011). She makes her fiction feature debut with Zana.
“Zana is a fictional story, inspired by my experiences during and after the war, when I lost my mother and my sister. The underlying themes and questions in the film stem from that. Specifically speaking, the nightmares and night terrors in Zana are the most accurate depiction of my own battles with these subjects.” – Antoneta Kastrati, Cineuropa
Filmmaker Profile
Film Details
Language Albanian
Year 2019
Runtime 97
Country Albania/Kosovo
Director Antoneta Kastrati
Producer Casey Cooper Johnson, Sevdije Kastrati, Dritan Huqi, Brett Walker, Miguel Govea
Writer Antoneta Kastrati, Casey Cooper Johnson
Editor Antoneta Kastrati, Brett W. Bachman
Cinematographer Sevdije Kastrati
Music Dritero Nikqi
Cast Adriana Matoshi, Astrit Kabashi, Fatmire Sahiti
Print Source
Synergetic Distribution
anatol@synergetic.film
www.synergetic.film
