In keeping with Armata’s maxim to support art and culture that is free and in the public interest, this week Armata showcases seven days of events promoting alternative culture and social dialogue.

The Yugoslav-era cinema, which reopened in April tucked behind Grand Central Hotel, has spent the last five months establishing itself as a space not just to provide Kosovo’s public with alternative and classical cinema, but also as a forum for cultural discussion, education, and entertainment.

This is only the second time that Armata has filled its timetable to the brim with back to back events, outlined below, and its founder, Alush Gashi, is eager to keep this going as Armata cements its place in Prishtina’s cultural scene.

Monday: Destiny (1921), 7pm

The week begins with the first of two films by German director Fritz Lang, showing at 7pm, which follows the story of a woman who tries to reunite with her dead lover, inspired by an old Indian folk tales, examining how humans deal with death and loss, said Gashi.

“Fritz Lang is one of the free or four most important German expressionist directors from the beginning of the 20th century,” said Gashi. “Most of his movies are psychological depictions of a particular human trait or interest. For example, Metropolis is another famous silent film of his we’ve shown, where he talks about the impact of technology on humanity, but it’s from the perspective of someone directing a film in the 1920s. He’s a brilliant director.”

Tuesday: Home (2009), 2pm, and The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933), 7pm

Home is the first of two screenings for the launch of Climate Diplomacy Week, an EU initiative encouraging global collaboration on climate change issues. The French film, which depicts how human activity threatens the ecological balance of the earth, will be shown at 2pm, organized in collaboration with local high schools and the French embassy.

Fritz Lang’s second film, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, will be shown at 7pm, a crime thriller set in an insane asylum which follows Inspector Lohmann, a police officer who attempts to stop a city-wide criminal conspiracy after discovering that crime in the city mirrors the evil plans that Mabuse has written down during his stint in the asylum.

The film originally was banned in Nazi Germany in the 1930s, considered to be a threat to public health and safety due to its depiction of criminal conspiracy to overthrow the state.

Wednesday: Point of no Return (2017)

Point of No Return is the second screening for Climate Diplomacy Week and the French embassy, documenting the first ever solar-powered flight around the world, which will play at 7pm.

A longer standing agreement with the French embassy has given Armata the green light to dig a little further into the French film archives. Since September, Armata has begun to show retrospectives by a number of celebrated French filmmakers, beginning with Jean-Pierre Melville, and continuing next week, when Armata will screen four of Francois Truffaut’s films.

Thursday: Eremira Citaku, “Trekandshi,” 8.30pm

Local musician and artist Eremira Citaku will present her collaborative multimedia musical performance on Thursday, which will be both a concert and an artistic initiative, explained Gashi.

“She’s organized an interesting project for other people to be involved in as well,” he said. “She primarily plays the flute but she is an experimental musician, she puts it through various synths and distorts the sound, so it would be flute, but probably not how you would imagine flute to sound.

Citaku’s performance begins at 8.30pm, and will be accompanied with artistic installations around the cinema.

Friday: Ambasadi, 9pm

Musical collective Ambasadi will be performing at 9pm on Friday, a collaboration of different musicians from Kosovo and Albania, as part of Armata’s GRAVITAS program, their moniker for the concerts that are played at the cinema.

“They’re a band, but their line up changes all the time. Most of the musicians have other projects, so they only play once in a while, but they’re in the process of recording an album now,” said Gashi. “It’s gonna be the first time most of the material you’re gonna hear is gonna be performed.”

Gashi explained that he wants to encourage more artistic and cultural events outside the realm of cinema to come to Armata.

“We organize a lot of discussions and lectures, we try to do as much as we can,” he said. “Armata’s not just a cinema, it’s a public space, and anything that falls within promoting alternative culture and social dialogue is welcome, not just films.”

Saturday: Tales from Ray Harryhausen, 12pm, and Tetris’ Vinyl listening and jam session, 8pm

Armata recently launched their IMAGO program, which focuses on promoting art and education for children. So far showing classic cartoons such as Popeye and Porky the Pig, alongside educational discussions exploring the themes of the cartoons, the next installation of IMAGO features the work of Ray Harryhausen, a stop-motion animator who recreated old fairy tales from the UK in the ‘50s, beginning at midday.

In the evening, Armata’s house band, Tetris, will host their vinyl record listening and jam session, which has started up again after summer. Gashi encouraged anyone to bring their instruments or pick up some of the house instruments, a permanent feature in front of the stage at Armata, and join in.

“We listen to a lot of music as well, people bring their own vinyls and records, it’s another way to get the musical community together, sometimes even 20 musicians show up and bring their own band members,” he said. “I think it could be developed into something really interesting for the music scene.”

Sunday: A Splendid Day to Fly, 7pm

The week at Armata wraps up with A Splendid Day to Fly, a mixed program featuring contemporary Viennese animation films that was organized in cooperation with other independent cinemas across Kosovo in Peja and Prizren, playing from 7pm.

Starting with a compilation of five filmmakers living and studying in Vienna, the program puts special focus on the works of Felix Weisz, featuring dark humor and abstract humanoid characters.