Organizing a festival is never easy. But even more difficult than this is the pursuit of a dream, in a foreign country and the belief in it even when you have only a few people on your journey. No one better than WENIFF director and founder Besnik Zogaj can explain this way. Finally, we sat down with him, in a friendly and professional conversation, to talk about the challenges and beauties of this process.
1. How did the dream of a film festival start?
As a director, I have always known the importance of a film festival, because it is the best and most adequate place to present the work a director does. After I moved from Kosovo to Ålesund, I was amazed by the beauties of the city and by the love that people had for art and culture. I was surprised when I understood that this city lacked an international film festival that would bring together filmmakers from around the world. I told myself “This is what I will do” and I combined the love I had for film-making with the love I felt for this beautiful city. I started contacting people of culture in Ålesund, creating a network and slowly but surely, we became a very good team and managed to establish a festival which has ben here for almost 10 years now and we so proud of that.
2. What do you remember from your beginnings? How difficult was it?
Every beginning is difficult – this is a sentence everyone says, I believe. Of course, it was difficult for me and for the staff, as both me and the festival were unknown here in Ålesund. But organizing the festival was not something unknown to me, and I was convinced that one day the festival would stand on its own two feet. What was important for me and Weniff staff was that the municipality of Ålesund supported this initiative both morally and financially. It was a symbolic amount that did not cover even our basic expenses, but the facts that they believed and saw something good on us, mattered a lot. I used my professional network and some of the best movies were screened that year.
100 films applied to be part of WENIFF during the first edition … we were stunned when after 3 editions over 8000 films had become part of our journey. This fact amazed us all, it gave us courage and a lot of strength to continue working even harder for our dream.
3. How difficult is it today to organize a film festival in Norway and how do you manage the whole process?
Everything you do has its difficulties at the beginning, but the film festival has different challenges, I think, because it is deeply connected to the values, and you have to be really careful on what you allow inside. Of course, festivals have financial problems on the beginning because they depend on the budget and the sponsors. Managing a film festival is as much fun as it is responsibility, effort and sacrifice. At least I think so since I am very attached to the festival and I do not see it as a business, I am deeply connected to the movies and it is very difficult when you see so many good movies and we have to choose only some of them… Nowadays it is not easy to organize a film festival, since we live in a digital world where people have access on different sites and can watch films from all over the world, on the comfort of their homes. But the festival is different, it gives you a really special feeling. It is a huge room where people get together, create memories and fill their daily routine with a special feeling. I truly believe that we need festivals because of all this and much more that I simply can’t put into words.
4. What is your big dream
My big dream is to shoot a movie, give a premiere at Weniff and see it travel to other festivals around the world. Well… now I responded as a director.
But, really, my dream for the festival is, that one day Weniff will become a meeting place for all filmmakers from around the world. This is what is happening today in our festival, but since we are working really hard, we want this story but in an even larger scale. We are planning to make weniff a place where producers meet directors, directors to meet screenwriters and actors and they share their experiences with each other. This is how, slowly but surely, Norway will become a place where directors and filmmakers from all over the world come and shoot their films, as it truly has amazing beauties that deserve to be seen and know, in particular the province of Møre og Romsdal.
5. What message do you have for young people who have big / similar dreams to yours?
My message is to make the dream come true, no matter what; everything is possible if you want it bad enough. Instead of focusing on the problems, keep your eyes on the big picture. There are no permanent troubles – there are only challenges that you will overcome if you work hard. Yes, the journey is hard sometimes but it is all worth it. We just have to be determined!
