Samir Karahoda: Displaced

With the working title ”Table Stories”. The producer Erol Bilibani asked me for feedback on the film – no objections, on the contrary, love it. The film shows perfectly how strong a short film can be if you master the short format and if you know the film language that fits. Making a film with table tennis as the direct subject, you have to know where to put the camera to make it interesting to watch, to find the visual line and to find the right rythm in editing, a rythm that works with the sound of the table tennis ball. That the film is much more than a sports film is obvious – also from the title – but I will leave that to the audience… Instead a qoute from an interview with the director on Europe House (https://europehouse-kosovo.com/kosovo-is-a-small-country-but-with-great-stories-samir-karahoda-author-of-the-film-no-place/ :

… ” After having its international premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, Samir Karahoda’s “Displaced” won Best Short Film award at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), and qualified directly to compete for Oscars 2022.” 

Content-wise I have copy-pasted this text, taken from the website of the Kosovo Cinematography Center:

“After Kosovo’s independence the first internationally recognized sports federation was the one of Table Tennis. Two local Ping-Pong enthusiasts see this as a great opportunity and start self-financing the training sessions for young players. One of them returns to Kosovo after seven years of exile in Germany, in a hope that postwar country will offer prosperity and new business opportunities. He works as a house painter, while the other character of the film is a professional bartender. Their scarce leisure time is completely invested in supporting the local team to prepare for international competitions. 

The challenges they will face goes beyond ones imagination.

Their professional Tennis Table is in constant move, on a tractor, searching the training venues. Garages, warehouses, private basements and wedding salons turn into training rooms, usually for a short period of time, and usually getting evicted after 2 weeks of training. Within one year they move to at least 10 unusual locations.

Main characters of the film always meet in a local bar to discuss solution for their training space. At a bar, young people – usually unemployed, discuss complex world politics and other bizarre themes. Our main characters, although sportsmen in spirit that lead a healthy life, powerless to find a solution end up joining the odd conversations on American foreign policy, corruption in powerful states, religion and other bizarre themes over a alcoholic beverage. 

15 years later, the Table Tennis team still trains in the hallways of the sport center.”

Kosovo, 2021, 20 mins.