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UCO students learned about social and economic problems besetting postwar Yugoslavia from an award-winning filmmaker from Kosovo.
Some students in the Serbian province attend class in buildings without water or electricity as depicted in "Students," an episode in "Life of a Land," a 15-part serial film produced by Kosovo filmmaker Avni Abazi.
"The truth is this film," Abazi said.
UCO students screened the episode that portrayed the very real problem of professors abusing their power to have sexual relations with female students.
In March, the American State Department honored Abazi for making a civil society and democracy-building serial film. "Students" helped to decrease the number of sexual harassment cases in Kosovo, Abazi said.
"It used to be a very big problem," he said.
The film was completed in April, Abazi said. He said he is honored to have Americans view his work.
"I'm presenting Kosovo," Abazi said.
"I can tell them what is the true Kosovo."
In "Students," a male faculty member at a Kosovo university was administering an entrance exam to an attractive female student named "Nita." She gave what seemed to be excellent answers to his questions.
But the professor said she sounded like she was unsure of her answers. He said that if she were to give him a call sometime he would reconsider his decision to not admit her into the medical school.
Nita and another student overcame their fear of retaliation and they told the dean about the professor's actions.
Abazi used a television reporter to reveal that though the war ended three years ago, Kosovo still has much rebuilding left to do. The reporter stood in a building on the campus that had no water or electricity.
Abazi said $200 million in funding earmarked for electricity just disappeared. Despite the multitude of problems, the general mood on the campus was good, the reporter said.
Journalists and filmmakers in Kosovo have limited freedoms, Abazi said. They can document social problems, like prostitution, drugs and a lack of housing, but issues pertaining to politics are off limits, Abazi said.
Many politicians are well aware of Abazi's reputation as someone who seeks to tell the truth about life in Kosovo, which has a population of about two million.
"They are very afraid of me," Abazi said half jokingly.
"At parties they don't want to meet me."
Abazi said no harm has come to him as a result of his hard-hitting journalistic style. "The Life of a Land" was the first film of its kind to be made in Kosovo, he said. The country is still being rebuilt; a lack of money limits the number of filmmakers capable of producing a full-length film.
Albanians are hard workers, Abazi said. But companies are afraid to invest in Kosovo so soon after a war.
Life in Kosovo is getting better, Abazi said. The presence of United Nations peacekeepers has helped to stabilize the province. They arrived soon after North Atlantic Treaty Organization military action forced Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic to surrender.
In 1999, Serbian forces were battling the Kosovo Liberation Army, fighting for independence from Serbia. Ninety percent of Kosovars are Albanian, six to seven percent are Serb, Abazi said. In March 1999, NATO intervened to keep the war from spreading.
Abazi has also written and acted in film and in theater. He will be working on two new projects, one about war, another about art students from culturally diverse backgrounds. Art is their common language, Abazi said.
Abazi is the director of the Association of Culture and Art Development in the Balkans.
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