Stories of Youth: Creativity, Memory and Hope

Young filmmakers in Mitrovicë/Mitrovica a are using storytelling and digital creativity to explore personal experiences, reflect on social themes, and share messages that resonate across communities.

For Elirë Rama, filmmaking became a way to revisit memories and celebrate the place she calls home. During the Short Feature Filmmaking Workshop, she chose to tell a deeply personal story about her relationship with her father, who passed away during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Her film explores the cityscapes of Mitrovicë/Mitrovica—places that hold memories of long walks and quiet conversations they once shared along the river. Through the lens of her camera, Elirë returns to familiar streets and riverside paths, creating a visual dialogue between past and present.

“My father and I used to walk often by the river,” she recalls. “When I look at these places now, I remember those moments. The city holds those memories.”

To Elirë, the river is more than a landscape. It is a thread connecting memory, family, and belonging. Through her film, she reflects on how places can carry emotional meaning and become spaces for remembrance and healing.

“I am proud of my city,” she says. “I want to tell a story about the city that helped me heal".

For Stefan Vuković, filmmaking is a way to explore the human mind and share a message of hope. As part of the same workshop, he is developing an experimental video essay that examines mental health through a first-person perspective, portraying the inner turbulence of depression.

Yet the essence of Stefan’s project is not despair—it is hope.

“Even people who struggle with mental health challenges were once happy,” he explains. “And they can find that happiness again. No one is beyond redemption.”

Inspired by experiences around him, Stefan uses visual storytelling to encourage compassion and understanding.

“Unfortunately, I know people who are dealing with mental health issues,” he says. “I wanted to send a message of hope and care. Video seemed like the perfect medium.”

For Stefan, personal wellbeing is closely connected to how people relate to one another and their communities.

“We all need to achieve a level of inner peace,” he says. “When we do that, we become more open to working together to improve living conditions, address social challenges, and build peace.”

Both young creators are among 15 trainees in filmmaking and digital creativity workshops implemented by UNDP, in colaboration with the two multiethnic art and culture CSOs project partners: 7 Arte and Aquarius Gallery, one form south and the other from north Mitrovicë/Mitrovica, under the UN’s regional peacebuilding initiative: Youth 4 Inclusion, Equality and Trust (Y4IET)”. Through hands-on sessions and expert guidance, young participants transform their ideas into short films and digital art projects exploring diversity, trust, and shared experiences. Stefan and Elirë are eager to screen their short films, produced during the Filmmaking for Advocacy workshop, for the planned local artistic audience on 27 March 2026. The evening will end with live music, creating a celebratory space for guests, youth, and local community members, to connect and reflect on the power of art in bringing communities together. 

About the Youth 4 Inclusion, Equality and Trust (Y4IET) initiative

The filmmaking workshops in Mitrovicë/Mitrovica north and south are part of the regional “Youth 4 Inclusion, Equality and Trust (Y4IET)” initiative, which is supported by the UN Peacebuilding Fund and implemented by UNDP, UNFPA, UNESCO and UN Women.

Since 2022, the initiative in Kosovo has engaged more than 2,000 young people directly, with 65% young women, and 300,000 people indirectly through social media, cultural events and public engagement through peace education, media literacy, youth journalism and creative initiatives that challenge divisive narratives and promote dialogue.

Across the Western Balkans region, young people are rewriting what trust, equality, and inclusion look like in everyday life. Their stories begin in classrooms, town squares, youth centres and municipal hallways - places where change often feels slow. Yet over the last three years, these spaces have been transformed by youth-led initiatives that reached more than 3,000 peers in one cluster of cities alone, mobilized 575 peer educators, trained over 500 young people in peace and security, and engaged more than 150,000 community members through campaigns designed and delivered by young volunteers.

Written in collaboration with UNDP Y4IET Team, Project Manager Ardian Latifaj.