Kosovo selects its first Oscar contender

Kosovo says it has nominated an Oscar contender for the first time since it announced independence in 2008 from Serbia.

An official in charge of nominations said Three Windows and a Hanging by veteran filmmaker Isa Qosja has been selected to represent the new Balkan nation for a shot at the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.

The film examines a village forced to come to terms with the raping of its women by Serb forces during the 1998-99 Kosovo war — a sensitive issue that has largely been swept aside in Kosovo’s patriarchal society.

Serbia still does not recognise Kosovo’s independence.