Babai

Gezim and his ten-year-old son, Nori, are struggling to make a living in Kosovo in the mid-90s. In their domineering uncle’s home, Gezim and Nori witness the brutality of their uncle towards other family members during his fits of rage. One day Gezim doesn’t return home. He’s fled for a recently united Germany, abandoning Nori to survive on his own. After a few foiled attempts to escape his dead-end future, Nori steals his uncle’s wedding money and sneaks onto a bus to take him out of Kosovo. Now a refugee, Nori’s chances of surviving are diminishing rapidly. The odds that he’ll ever find his father again? Almost impossible. Visar Morina’s harrowing, partially autobiographical account of being a refugee in Eastern Europe is essential viewing for a world currently steeped in a migrant crisis. BABAI is a firsthand account of the hardships of constantly being on the run and having nowhere to sleep, no money to eat, and little hope for survival. (In Albanian with subtitles) –C.P.