From Refugee to Immigrant: A Story of Three Kosovar Albanian Americans
Narrated by Olympia Dukakis

This program paints a personal face on the ethnic cleansing that was forced upon the Kosovar Albanians by the Serbs in the spring of 1999. The documentary retraces the atrocities, hopes and dreams experienced by three young refugees currently living in the United States as well as their families and friends back in Kosova.

In addition to videotape of brothers Gentian and Plator Grezda and their friend Bekim Qela at a number of locations in the United States as they explore their new home, footage for From Refugee to Immigrant: A Story of Three Kosovar Albanian Americans encompasses scenes in Kosova where interviews include Kosova President Ibrahim Rugova. Also depicted in the program are several meetings in Israel with individuals who helped Gentian, Plator and Bekim when they fled to a refugee camp in Macedonia before they were flown to the United States.

In its July 5, 2003 review of From Refugee to Immigrant, the New York Times wrote: "The filmmakers, Ellen Friedland and Curt Fissel, approach their subjects with documentarians' usual mix of paternalistic affection and journalistic distance. To their credit, they linger with individuals in a global crisis when journalists might pay attention only to large crowds and only while the story is hot."

In June 2004, the documentary was awarded the prestigious Aurora Gold Award and was a Finalist for the Telly Awards in the documentary category. The Thomas Edison Black Maria Film/Video Festival cited From Refugee to Immigrant as a "noteable and accomplished piece of considerable merit."

From Refugee to Immigrant is narrated by actress Olympia Dukakis whose supporting role in the Norman Jewison film Moonstruck won her an Academy Award as well as the New York Film Critics Award, the Los Angeles Film Critics Award, and the Golden Globe Award.

An original musical score for the documentary was produced by highly acclaimed Albanian musician and composer Raif Hyseni -- originally from Kosova. Solos are performed by his wife, Merita Halili, whose exquisite soprano voice, singing Albanian melodies, is the reason she is often referred to as an "ambassador" of Albanian folk music. Raif and Merita travel around the world performing ethnic music.

Norman Naimark, the Robert and Florence McDonnell Professor of History at Stanford University who recently authored Fires of Hatred: Ethnic Cleansing in 20th Century Europe published by Harvard University Press, discusses the historical background of the conflict in Kosova that led to the ethnic cleansing.

The documentary focuses on the adjustment of the three refugees to life in America in terms of language, work, friends, leisure, and culture. Their experiences – in the three different varieties each undergoes -- is common to immigrants regardless of background, and viewers from every ethnic group will relate to their highs and lows. In addition, the reality of the continuing hardships their families and friends in Kosova face affect them on many levels, and they bring those feelings back to the US, where the documentary ends and where life, now as new Americans, continues. 

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