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Fisnik Maxhuni
La Vallée Heureuse
Experimental fiction | mp4 | color | 17:0 | Kosovo, Iran | 2017
Northern Iran. A young boy, equipped with his motorbike, travels through the cities, the mountains and the Caspian Sea on the search for a mythical stone supposed to bring happiness. Through his journey, he will cross the paths of those who, before him, have tried to find it as well. Through an intergenerational portrait of contemporary Iran, La Vallée Heureuse seeks to question the mythical and universal quest for happiness.
Born in 1989 in Kosovo, ex-Yugoslavia. Refugee and stateless in Switzerland until the acquirement of Swiss and Kosovan citizenships in 2005. During his studies in Bachelor in International Relations from the University of Geneva (2011) and Master in Geopolitics from King's College London (2014), he writes and directs his first "film objects" and is a member of the "London Film Society". During his stays in Japan (2012 as a diplomatic assistant at the Swiss Embassy in Tokyo), in Indonesia (2013) and in Bolivia (2014), he experiments further with film. Starts a Master in Film Studies at ECAL / HEAD (Switzerland) in 2014. He directs "Ministarstvo Sjecanja" in 2015, under the aegis of Béla Tarr in Sarajevo. In 2015, he takes part in the Baushtellë Artists Residence in Zürich, Belgrade and Prishtina during which he publishes a short anthropological novel on the perception of roots and origins in modern times. Graduates in 2016 with his film "Lost Exile", shot in Kosovo and presented in world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival where it is awarded a prize. He is invited to more than 30 festivals among others ; Clermont-Ferrand, Solothurn, Winterthur, Tirana, Lisbon, Prizren, New Delhi, Villeurbanne, Montréal, Den Haag, Montevideo, Los Angeles. With this film, he wins a dozen of awards. In 2016, he is invited to participate in Masterclasses for young talents organized as part of the Zurich Film Festival. In 2017, he founds Visceral Films. He produces and directs two films : "La Vallée Heureuse", short film co-produced and shot in Iran. The film is presented in Winterthur, Solothurn and as an international premiere at the Film Festival of Sao Paolo. Then, "Zvicra", long-feature documentary co-produced by the RTS (Radio Télévision Suisse) that questions the concept of "double identity". Currently, he is writing "The Land Within Me", his first fiction long-feature film. At the same time, he is working as a 2nd unit director for the new TV show of the RTS, "Helvetica". With "The Land Within Me", he is selected to participe in the Talents Sarajevo 2018 where he will be pitching the project, after pitching it as well at the Festival de Cannes 2018. On Culture and Tropics (2014) 12` Ministarstvo Sjecanja (2015) 15` Lost Exile (2016) 29` La Vallée Heureuse (2017) 18` Zvicra (2017) 70" The Land Within Me (2019) 110"