The Beauty of the Donkey

Synopsis

A poetic documentary about a daughter reconnecting with the homeland her father was forced to leave behind. After sixty years in exile, Asllan returns with his daughter Dea to Makermal, the village in Kosovo he once called home. With the help of local residents, father and daughter begin to retrace his childhood memories and piece together a past scarred by war.

The reenactments, playful at first, gradually bring old wounds to the surface. As Dea and Asllan confront the disappearance of a beloved woman in their family, the village’s shared grief also emerges. Blending reality and reenactment, documentary and magical realism, the film becomes a moving reflection on memory, loss, and the fragile act of reconstructing the past.

Director Biography

Dea Gjinovci

Swiss-Albanian filmmaker whose films have premiered at major international festivals, including Tribeca, IDFA, and Visions du Réel. A Sundance alumna and recipient of multiple awards, she is known for combining poetic storytelling with elements of magical realism. She is a member of the Swiss and European Film Academies and holds degrees from SOAS and UCL, both part of the University of London.

Credits

Camera / Kamera

Maxime Kathari

Editing / Kurgu

Lizi Gelber

Music / Müzik

Gael Kyriakidis

Sound / Ses

Henry Sims

Production / Yapım

Dea Gjinovci, Palmyre Badinier, Ilir Hasanaj, Emma Lepers