Without red carpets or endless speeches, the International Documentary and Short Film Festival Dokufest opened its 24th edition on Friday night in Prizren with a simple yet deeply meaningful ceremony. A modest cocktail gathering replaced spotlights and fanfare, reminding everyone that the true spotlight of this festival has always been the power of its stories. This year, Dokufest made its intentions clear from the very start: instead of grand words, it let images speak. A striking video, directed by Leart Rama, took the place of an opening speech. Short but powerful, the piece forced the audience to confront the brutal reality of war in Palestine and other overlooked corners of the world. Raw footage sourced from social media showed the harshness of daily survival: mothers feeding their children with scarcity as the main dish, children taking their last breaths while elsewhere life goes on with toasts and celebrations.

With this opening, Dokufest reaffirms its essence: to be a megaphone for truths many would rather ignore. The audiovisual piece ended with the haunting question, “When will this pain end?” — leaving the room in silence before officially declaring the festival open.

This year’s ceremony changed venue: while the iconic Lumbardhi cinema undergoes renovation, the improvised “Kino Lumi” welcomed hundreds of guests, filmmakers, and locals. Under the gentle dusk light, the city briefly became a hub for collective reflection.

“Lakmi, pafund çmendi, boshllëk” — Greed, boundless madness, emptiness — is the phrase that sums up this year’s motto. It’s not merely a theme, but a diagnosis of an age overloaded with information, conflict, and a constant sense of helplessness. For Rama, the urgency was clear: “While we celebrate, elsewhere thousands are dying. We couldn’t begin any other way,” he said after the screening.

Cinema without glamour, but with truth — that’s what Dokufest stands for. To underline its role as a critical space, the festival’s first feature was The Helsinki Effect, a documentary by Irish filmmaker Arthur Franck. Although barely mentioned during the opening, the film marked the start of this year’s cinematic marathon. The documentary revisits the historic 1975 Helsinki Conference, a key event in easing Cold War tensions, where leaders like Ford, Brezhnev, and Tito came together to agree on principles of pan-European security and cooperation. Structured in chapters, the film reflects on the true consequences of that summit and how, half a century later, its promises feel distant in a world still marred by global tensions.

Eroll Bilibani, head of DokuLab, emphasized the choice of film: “We want people to reflect on what has changed and what remains the same since then. It’s a call to question the inertia of today’s world.”

This year’s lineup brings together 99 films selected from more than 3,500 submissions. Seven competitive categories range from local productions — with titles like Pesë stinët e fëmijërisë sime or Ndera — to international sections focused on human rights, the environment, and new perspectives on documentary cinema. Beyond the competition, attendees can enjoy special screenings, retrospectives, and discussion forums.

Link to the full opening video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCv_eqzn850