Animating History: Kosovo Women’s War Stories on Film

Hoxha, who spends her time drawing, creating animation and working at a local all-female design studio, launched her animated short film, 'Kush mytet kapet per shkume' ('The One Who's Drowning Holds on to the Foam'), in December 2019.

The film begins in Pristina in the midst of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, which was intended to force Slobodan Milosevic to end his military campaign in Kosovo. The air strikes started on March 24, 1999 and went on for 78 days.

Hoxha combed through the archives of the Oral History Initiative Kosovo to search for inspiration, drawing from real-life retellings of people's experiences during the war.

She said she was most inspired by the stories of women and their roles during those difficult times, particularly because men are the usual protagonists in the stories of this period of Kosovo's history.

"During my research, I was amazed by the stories that women told," she explained. "I realised that it's not very common that we hear their side of the story, and I decided that it is women's stories that I wanted to highlight."

'We tried to live a normal life'

Still from 'Kush mytet kapet per shkume', courtesy of Urtina Hoxha.

The story that stuck with Urtina most was that of Ola Syla, a women's rights activist from Istog/Istok who lives in Pristina. During the NATO bombing campaign, Syla struggled to protect her family of three men - her husband and two young sons.

In the film, Syla describes her daily activities during the war. As it was safer for her as a woman, she explains, she took it upon herself to leave the safety of their apartment daily to shop for groceries and bread, things she often could not acquire for her family because of the long queues of people.

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