THE LIMINAL STATE, a feature-length documentary

Our feature-length documentary weaves together a story of three young Kosovar musicians who continuously negotiate living within a literal liminal state. Your donation can go a long way in helping them be seen and heard.

In partnership with CREATIVE VISIONS FOUNDATION...

WATCH OUR TRAILER HERE.

Kosovo is Europe’s youngest nation-- recognized by only half the world. Between Eastern and Western powers, with waning trust on either side, the post-war generation are forging their own path through music, reflecting on and rebelling against their lived realities. Through the perspective of the American filmmaker, the narrative traces the emotional journey of our participants, defying the odds to create their own way of living, meaning, and community through music.

TEAM // The production team features three-time Academy Award nominated executive producers Shane Boris and Odessa Rae, coming off of their win for best documentary in 2023 with Navalny. Producers include Mitch Dickman named in Variety’s “Filmmakers to Watch”, Berlinale regulars Igor Dovgal and Bettina Morlock, and renowned Kosovo local filmmaker and musician Leart Rama. Samir Ljuma is the Oscar-nominated and Sundance Award winning cinematographer.

STORY // Edona Vatoci is a singer-songwriter who got her start on the Voice of Albania at age 16, blending Albanian folk rhythms and lyrics with modern electronics. During her potential last year in Prishtina, she is caught in an existential crisis around leaving her challenging past to reinvent herself as an artist abroad in the West.

Her younger brother, Donat, is the lead singer of an up and coming post-punk band “The Milk Snatchers.” Unemployed and living day to day, a quiet competition brews beneath the bands’ dynamic as his best friend and guitarist Leke prepares to leave for better opportunities in France.

Suada is the leader of the sole indie-pop band in Prishtina, Zwada. Coming from a patriarchal home in the outskirts of Prishtina, she is finding refuge from her personal isolation by becoming a subversive figure in the underground community.

ARTIST STATEMENT // "I first came to Kosovo in 2019 as a young American solo-traveler around the former Yugoslavia expanding my thesis research on cultural waves under ex-communist societies. On my first night in Prishtina, I joined a gathering of the young creatives who would become close friends over the coming years. Beneath my academic brain engaged with the complex situation of the country, I had a distinct shift in perception; there was something alive, untapped, in the present growing from the ashes of the past.

While the new generation is putting in the work to unravel their own history, to archive and build an identity for the young nation, I noticed a lack of documentation of this process. I started following the rapid re-growth of the underground music scene during the pandemic and decided to move full time to Kosovo in early 2023. It took some to accept, and accept that others accepted, my viewpoint as an outsider, particularly as an American because of our tight political and cultural connections with Kosovo, that I was in the right position to pursue this idea for a feature documentary.

Through my creative partnership with Leart Rama of Katarze, a trailblazer in the cinema and music scene of Kosovo, we feel that this story has a unique entry point into understanding the emotional reality for young artists of a teenage country. The collaborative international perspective from a renowned team of producers offers a glimpse into the spirit which captivated me, inaccessible from news headlines." - Maddie Gwinn, Director

Maddie is a Europe-based emerging filmmaker from Seattle. She graduated with a BFA in film directing from Chapman University and the Filmakademie Baden-Würrtemberg International Class. Having lived and worked for the past years in Prague, Stuttgart, and Prishtina, her work strives to build bridges between European and American societies. Her short films have traveled to festivals around the United States and Europe. She is the recipient of numerous grants from the Caucus Foundation, Leo Freedman Foundation, Baden-Würrtemberg Stiftung, among other awards.

BACKGROUND // Kosovo, formerly an autonomous province of Yugoslavia under Serbian administration, declared its independence in 2008, following the devastating 1999 conflict. Recognized by half the world, Kosovo remains in a liminal state between Western and Eastern powers at geopolitical play, fabricating arbitrary and discriminatory restrictions on freedom of movement, economic, and cultural growth. The music scene in Prishtina is a microcosm for the country, tracing the roots of rebellion through to the current day, where young people are taking charge of how Kosovo defines itself on the international stage. As Kosovo is potentially in its final year of staunch political isolation, it is important to document the resistance that’s brought them to the present day. The film traces how music is Kosovo’s greatest export and a vehicle for building cultural identity on an international stage. How will the changes over 2023 impact the hopes, fears, and desires of the current scene?

For questions please contact us at liminalstatedoc@gmail.com