Bashkim

For two years, Vadim Jendreyko followed the Albanian Thai kick-boxer Bashkim, who has been living in Winterthur, a small village in Switzerland, for a few years. In Thai kick-boxing, you are allowed to use bare fists, knees and feet to hit the opponent in the stomach, head and knees. Initially, Bashkim seems to prosper: he becomes Swiss champion and beats the European champion. But little by little, his tragic family history emerges. Two cousins were shot in the war against Serbia and Bashkim is arrested for hitting a policeman. He ends up in jail, from where he tells about his pent-up aggression and his homesickness for his native village in Kosovo. Colleagues of the injured policeman are also introduced, but Jendreyko concentrates more on the previous history and the aftermath than on the offence itself. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)