As part of Heartefact’s Kosovo–Serbia Visiting Program, we organized a visit in early August to festivals in Pristina and Prizren for a group of young artists and activists from Serbia. During the visit, the participants had the opportunity to attend three major cultural events in Kosovo – the 24th edition of the DokuFest International Documentary Film Festival in Prizren, the 6th edition of the Sunny Hill music festival in Pristina, and the 5th edition of the Autostrada Biennale, an international contemporary art festival.
The program also included meaningful meetings with local cultural professionals – representatives of the Lumbardhi Foundation (Bengi Muzbeg and Fisnik Egër), DokuFest director Linda Lulla Gashi, Autostrada Biennale director Vatra Abrashi, and renowned playwright Doruntina Basha, with whom Heartefact has collaborated since 2011, when her play Finger won Heartefact’s playwriting competition.
During their stay, the group watched more than ten documentary and short films, attended concerts by artists such as Dua Lipa, Fatboy Slim, Shkodra Elektronike, and Dakha Brakha, and had the chance to get to know the cultural scenes of Pristina and Prizren. The program included 11 young artists and activists, including playwrights, designers, photographers, theater directors, sound design students, and LGBT+ activists.
This is the second year in a row that Heartefact has organized a visit to DokuFest, and the first time we have partnered with Sunny Hill. In May this year, we also organized a visit to Beldocs in Belgrade for a group of young people from Kosovo. Through these visits, Heartefact continues to provide space for young people from Serbia and Kosovo to connect, engage in dialogue, and exchange experiences, with the goal of strengthening mutual understanding and cultural ties.
*This visiting program is part of the project Healing Divides, which is supported by the Niwano Peace Foundation and as part of the project Enhancing Cross-Border Cooperation and Civic Engagement in the Western Balkans, which Heartefact implements with the support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).










