"Four Pills At Night" - the film's story about love

Two days after the world premiere at "Locarno Film Festival", the film directed by Leart Rama has also given its national premiere within the "Special Screening" program of "DokuFest". "Four Pills At Night" focuses on a relationship that is kept hidden, where someone loves a lot and the end of the story is not known how it will be. Work on this film project has not yet been completed. The intention is to turn it into a feature film

Two friends have not seen each other for a long time. A conversation on the phone shows that they are close. The news that the new director, Drini, who is portrayed by Florist Bajgora, will come to Pristina, makes Val happy. The impression begins to be created that he surpasses the sensitivity of the friend in relation to him. "I can't wait until this night comes and I will 'reset' the throne together", says Vali, played by Redon Kika, in the film. The conversation is heard while the screen shows the road to the place where the "party" will be held, where Drini and Vali are expected to meet. After that, "Four Pills At Night" starts to give a view of the club where the party is taking place. What the film directed by Leart Rama brings next is a love story. A relationship that is kept hidden, where someone loves very much and the end of the story is not known how it will be.

The film crew returned to Kosovo on Friday for the national premiere. They were in Switzerland for the world premiere that was given at the "Locarno Film Festival", which has the name of one of the most important film festivals in Switzerland and Europe. There the film was shown on Wednesday and was selected in the "Pardi di domani National Competition" in the 74th edition of the "Locarno Film Festival" that started on August 4 and ended this Saturday. And it came to "DokuFest" as part of the "Special Screening" program.

The 24-year-old director is focused on capturing emotions in the film. It is focused on tighter frames and profile views. His characters are few and far between. Facial expressions speak louder. Rama focuses his camera there. The whole process took two months, and within two days the filming was completed. But, the work with this film project is not finished yet. The intention is to turn it into a feature film. Therefore, it remains to be seen how the story of the two young people will continue, but also the society's reaction to their love. These are the two aspects that the director focuses on: he tries to analyze what feelings Vali and Drini have for each other. He also confronts Vali with the reactions of his friends who learn that he is gay.

The director himself has said that the end of the film is the realization of one of his dreams.

"It is one of the teams that has given its best to make a film, to bring out a theme, to realize my dream that I have had all my life to make such a film", he said.

In October last year, director Rama's screenplay, then entitled "Four Pills In A Meadow Night", was announced as the winner of a grant for the production of short films by "DokuFest" and "Internationale Kurzfilmtage Qinterthur".

On May 18 of this year, the team managed to successfully complete the shooting of this film, which is a production of "Katarze Films" together with "Degenerata", while it was supported by "Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur". "DokuFest" and the Swiss Embassy in Kosovo.

The artistic director of "DokuFest", Veton Nurkollari, said that the film was made with minimal means and budget, but with great love and will.

"The entire film team has proven that they make films with dreams, with hard work, with reality, which can reach even bigger festivals", he said. Showing that Leart had joined "DokuFest" when he was 10 years old and the producer of the film Nita Deda when she was 10 years old, he said that this success is something he did not try to dream of 20 years ago.

"It is no coincidence that this year, however difficult it has been and has been difficult, is actually the best year of Kosovar film in all of written history, and these are the people who are writing it," said Nurkollari. He added that they will continue to remain young. "We hope that others will join us and we will be able to make as many films as possible", he said.

On the other hand, producer Nita Deda has said that making the film was a very challenging, but beautiful process.

"For 20 years, the art of young people has been supported by "DokuFesti" and a space has been created to share their stories", she said.

In addition to Redon Kika and Florist Bajgora, the film also stars Don Shala, Gjeni Basha, Edon Shileku, Dardan Bytyqi, Nita Kaja, Blin Sylejmani and others. Director Leart Rama when he was 16 years old, completed the "Documentary Film School" at "Dokufest", where he discovered his passion for films and was discovered as a talent. He graduated in film directing at the "University of Arts of Tirana" in Albania. In the same year, he founded "Katarze Films", a film production company in Pristina. At the age of 22, he was chosen by Werner Herzog to shoot a film in the Colombian Jungle, something that was not realized due to the pandemic. His films include: "Station", "Seam" and the series of documentaries that capture the time of the pandemic in Pristina, entitled "Corona Diary". Even "Four Pills At Night" was shot during the pandemic.