Hive

Ever since her husband was declared missing in the war in Kosovo, Fahrije and her family – her father in law and two children – struggle to deal with the pain and the financial hardship. To provide for her family, she creates and runs a small agricultural business, but in the traditionalist patriarchal village she lives in, her determination and her efforts to emancipate herself and other women are met with animosity and obstruction. Nevertheless, Fahrije does not give up and continues to fight not only to keep her family afloat, but to assert herself against a community that is hostile towards her and is rooting for her to fail. Based on a true story.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT “A widow should only do housework, respect her in-laws and stay at home”. These were the words Fahrije Hoti heard every day as soon as she got a driver’s license and started to provide for her kids, having lost her husband during the last war in Kosovo. I was sitting in my apartment in Brooklyn, NY, trying to finish writing my school project while I was listening to a TV Show from Kosovo. A woman was talking about getting her driver’s license and the whole village gossiping about how she had humiliated her family. Fahrije Hoti, a widow and a mother of two, had to do something to survive, and she did. She got a driver’s license and got a job. Everyone was talking about it, but she did it. One day she opened a little business where she employed other widows and now she produces pickled vegetables sold all around Kosovo. Besides being a woman and a mother myself, I was intrigued by her will and power to not only survive, but to achieve something great and never look back. Her positivity and energy are fascinating. That is something I want to bring on screen, a strong female character full of colours.