Visar Morina’s third feature film “Shame and Money” won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize earlier this year and is competing at the Sarajevo Film Festival, where it marks a return for the director following his previous festival success. The film stars Astrit Kabashi and Flonja Kodheli as Shaban and Hatixhe, a middle-aged couple living in rural Kosovo with their extended family. When a family dispute results in an act of betrayal, the couple loses their farm and is forced to relocate to Pristina with Shaban’s mother and their daughters.
In the capital city, the family struggles to survive through irregular employment while navigating the rigid class hierarchies of contemporary urban life. Shaban accepts a position as a night watchman at a gated community, a role he describes to his wife as work designed to exclude people like themselves. As economic pressures intensify, Shaban’s mental state deteriorates, becoming increasingly diminished by a society that measures human worth primarily through financial means.
Morina frames the narrative as a commentary extending beyond Kosovo’s specific circumstances to reflect broader European sociopolitical conditions. The director notes that rising living costs, housing shortages, stagnant wages, and widening inequality across the continent mirror the struggles depicted in his film. He describes “Shame and Money” as simultaneously examining the past and serving as a cautionary vision of potential futures.
The film was written by Morina and Doruntina Basha, with production involving multiple European companies. Variety’s chief film critic praised the work as a keenly observed portrayal of economic desperation and family division. Morina’s career has increasingly focused on depicting outsiders and those marginalized by social structures, whether through immigration or class status. The Sarajevo Film Festival runs through August 21.
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