At the 25th edition of the Prizren-based fest, archival excavation and documentary hybridity took center stage.
The manifesto of this year’s DokuFest, marking its 25th anniversary, focused on “persistent defiance,” urging—maybe even daring—us not to look away. This political-mixed-with-punk spirit has endured for the festival’s history, which is always trying something new, celebrating something old, and staying open to everything. The festival has been transformational, both as a cultural touchstone and for the city of Prizren, Kosovo, it calls home.
Back in 2002, when DokuFest was born, there were no cinemas in Prizren. The Lumbardhi Cinema (which would later play a big role in the festival) was no longer operational, and there were no other venues at which to watch films. The founding team—co-architects and co-curators Eroll Bilibani, Samir Karahoda, and Veton Nurkollari—decided that Prizren needed cinemas and film, and held the first DokuFest with a handful of VHS screenings in the Lumbardhi space, opened solely for the festival. Over the years, the program has expanded to a full slate of international, regional, and national documentary films, international fiction shorts, filmmaker retrospectives, and a variety of other special series and expanded offerings.
Despite the shadow of the wars that lasted until 2001 across this region of former Yugoslavia, DokuFest grapples with that legacy and memory, not ignoring the past, but embracing a future of free expression and new possibilities. From those first few scrappy, small years, the festival has grown—influencing festivals across the Western Balkans and garnering attention and collaboration from international festivals and partners. More than extending outward, its importance lies in what the festival has developed for the local community.
Until this year, it was extremely difficult for Kosovars to obtain visas to destinations such as Europe and beyond. “If young people can’t see the world, then we had to bring it here for them,” says Nurkollari during a conversation with Documentary at the festival. “Cinema is not a luxury,” he attests. “It’s not roses, it’s bread.”
Published in the Fall 2026 issue of Documentary Magazine