Partner Media Investment

A woman grapples with the consequences of her husband's imprisonment.

Bota (Albanian for “the world”) is a cafe situated on the edge of a vast area of marshland in a remote part of Albania, and it is here that the lives of the protagonists intersect in this compelling debut by Iris Elezi and Thomas Logoreci. The directors skilfully exploit the genius loci of the desolate landscape and, aided by a period score and beguiling long shots, they flawlessly evoke the atmosphere of a place where the past still encroaches upon people’s lives.

These young women are an odd couple. Julie is quick-witted and stubborn. She celebrates idleness and even voluntarily checks into a psychiatric clinic. Nurse Agnes, on the other hand, is always eager to do the right thing and to meet everyone's expectations of her, which is not always easy. When the two of them accidentally meet one day, odds are they won't get along. But they quickly feel attracted to one another, despite their enormous differences.

1918, shortly before the end of the Great War, an Austrian soldier passes the barrier of the Italian lines and escapes. He is very young, alone, scared. During his journey in that enemy land, so similar to his own, the thoughts of the terrible experience on the front alternate with childhood memories. Along the way, death takes him and puts him back into the flow of nature, to which he has always felt he belonged.