Private Project

The Goddess on the Throne

The voice of historian Aleks Buda echoes into the present – words, met by darkness, the absence of things. How to confront history when there are no objects to which this history adheres? How to revisit a history marked by gaps?

Hyjnesha në Fron traces this endlessly expanding echo in the present void - a haunting sound of rhythmical distortion, stretching over excavated images. A search but also a starting point: For demanding historical spaces filled with objects and people whose sudden reoccurring make the entanglement of absence and violence hauntingly concrete.

  • Durim Klaiqi
    Director
    reMemBer2.human
  • Durim Klaiqi
    Writer
  • Durim Klaiqi
    Producer
  • Fine Sir
    Music
  • Ahmet Grajqevci
    Missing Persons Consultant
  • Gjejlane Hoxha
    Cultural Heritage Consultant
  • Melissa Lindgren
    Mentor
  • Ard Kelmendi
    Software Engineer (2DGS)
  • Jake Buckley
    Software Support
  • Rinor Ramadani
    Drone Operator
  • Agonis Gorçaj
    Camera Assistant
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Hyjnesha në Fron
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Documentary, Experimental, Short, Other
  • Genres:
    Hystory, Politics, Social Issues
  • Runtime:
    7 minutes 53 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 30, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    3,384 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Kosovo
  • Country of Filming:
    Albania, Kosovo
  • Language:
    Albanian
  • Shooting Format:
    unknown/various
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9 & 1:85
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Durim Klaiqi

Durim Klaiqi is a distinguished graphic designer and experimental filmmaker from Prishtina, Kosova. In late 2017, he joined Samsung's "Galaxy Themes" partnership program, marking the commencement of his career in graphic design. Concurrently, he pursued his studies in "Integrated Design," culminating in a Bachelor of Arts degree with a specialization in graphic design. By 2020, he had expanded his professional repertoire to include freelance video editing, thereby enhancing his skill set.

His debut short film, "reMemBer2.human," an experimental sci-fi piece, has been screened and nominated at several prestigious film festivals globally, including Vienna Shorts, DokuFest, and Tirana International Film Festival, among others. The film has garnered great support and awards, encouraging him to further diversify local cinema through an experimental lens.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Sometime in 2020, I happened to come across an article about an exhibition organized by the National Museum of Kosovo and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports. This exhibition was dedicated to artifacts taken from the public collection of Kosovo museums during 1998-1999, which still remain unreturned by the Serbian state. Thanks to international pressure, only “The Goddess on the Throne" was returned in 2002 due to its importance as a symbol of the city of Prishtina.

When I read this article, I had a feeling that even today I find difficult to describe but it has stayed with me throughout these years. This documentary is the embodiment of that feeling.

This experimental project is the product of months-long independent research, conducted both in local and international archives. Like an archaeologist who digs and analyzes material remnants to derive meaning from these findings, similarly I investigated journalistic reportings on various events in Kosovo.

What I am most proud of is the use of the new technology “3D Gaussian Splatting” (3DGS), which has been applied in a way never seen before - photogrammetry use for archival videos. When we think about revisiting the past in the context of film, we are often very limited by the formats through which we can do this (especially with small budgets) so the ability to reconstruct spaces of the past in a three-dimensional digital form creates an indescribable experience for the viewer. Therefore, I believe this documentary is an innovation in this regard.