Bota

Description

In an Albanian town where the residents claim nothing ever happens, secrets simmer just below the surface and the past is always present. Down-to-earth Juli, entrepreneurial Ben, and free spirit Nora run a quirky café/bar called Bota (literally “the world” in Albanian). Different as they are, these three strong personalities are held together by their connection to the place and its oddball regulars. Bota is the center of social life for a community crouched on the edge of a swamp notorious for hiding the bones of rebels disappeared during the communist regime. Long after the end of the dictatorship, local life is still stagnant, most too poor to seize the opportunities democracy affords. But progress is coming in the form of a highway construction project and change isn’t far behind. Co-director Iris Elezi was making a documentary in her homeland when she began collecting stories of Albanians whose families had been sent to labor camps during the dictatorship. With American-Albanian co-director Thomas Logoreci, she has painted a vivid portrait of three people whose individual lives reveal a larger story about modern life in the Balkans. —Laura Henneman

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