Regional Competition

Studenicani is a small village about 10 kilometres from the Macedonian capital of Skopje. The ethnic Albanian population forms a tight and rather isolated community in which Islam plays a prominent role. In this film, director Marija Dzidzeva painted a detailed picture of daily life in Studenicani. It’s a picture from within: we see the residents’ traditional way of life through their own eyes, as they tell the story themselves. The central narrator is a mother of five children. We see her face in extreme close-up, and her constantly busy hands as she cleans, cooks and embroiders. We also meet other residents of the village, especially lots of children. They talk about their worries, their dreams and their plans for the future. The boys play outside, while the girls stay in. It becomes clear that the traditional division of roles, in which women spend the majority of their lives indoors, is coming under considerable pressure especially now that the temptations of the city and a Western way of life are penetrating the village more and more.