By Ylljet Aliçka
Albanian Cinema
Albanian cinema does not have a long history. A regular production of feature films started in 1957, and grew in the following years. From the 1970s to the end of Communism, some fourteen feature films and fourty documentaries were being produced each year. However, the political changes of 1992 marked a turning point for the film industry. Despite a few occasional successes on the international film festivals, such as Kujtim Çashku’s KOLONEL BUNKER / COLONEL BUNKER (France, Albania, Poland 1998), Fatmir Koçi’s TIRANA VITI ZERO / TIRANA YEAR ZERO (Albania, France 2001), Gergj Xhuvani’s SLOGANS (Albania, France 2001) or Artan Minarolli’s NATA PA HENE / MOONLESS NIGHT (Albania, France 2004), the volume of film production, affected by economic decline, dropped to a minimum. After a sustained growth in production levels during the Communist time, Albanian documentary also experienced a slight decline in the early nineties.
Though there has been a continuous production, Albanian documentary filmmakers never managed to develop any kind of either hidden or open collective criticism toward the political establishment in the Communist era. Pressure on the artists was comparably high in both documentary and feature film production. An established director today, Kujtim Çashku was heavily censored upon his return from the Film Directing studies at the Bucharest Institute of Theatre and Film Art in 1977, as a stern example to other filmmakers. In 1989, Fatmir Koçi was accused of “humanism” and “pacifism” after finishing his somewhat neo-realistic war story LUMI QË NUK SHTERON / BALLADE THROUGH BULLETS.
Like in any other transition country, the system of centralised film studios in Albania has changed into a more open environment, where filmmakers have to dilligently search for their own budgets. At the moment, documentary producers continue to look for public sources and international donors to finance projects, while festival attendance of documentaries is on the rise.
State Support for Documentaries
Facing a crisis in cinema production, the Albanian National Film Centre (Qendra kombetare e kinematografise) was founded in 1996 to both develop a strategy for Albanian cinema, and provide its funding. At the moment, documentary production is mainly related to and supported by the National Film Centre, and the Albanian Public Radio Television (Radio Televizioni Shqiptar, RTSH), private TV channels, and international donors. From 1992, when the first openly elected government under Sali Berisha came into power, to 2006, the National Film Centre financed 59 documentaries, or 36 percent of the overall production, while the RTSH and Albanian private broadcasters financed 26 percent each. 23 percent have been supported by foreign sources and international donors, and the rest by other public (10%) and private (5%) sources.
The National Film Centre is a legal entity with the status of a national institution, depending on the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports for the creation, production, distribution and performance of film works. It determines the distribution of budgetary funds for documentary films which “convey qualitative values and national cultural interest”. [1] It provides economic support, management and the coordination of filmmaking activities in Albania. It also allocates funds for national and international festivals and film weeks. Generally, producers who have already procured a part of the funds for their documentaries from native or foreign co-producers, sponsors, foundations, donors or bank loans have a priority in obtaining budgetary funds from the National Film Centre.
As to the production facilities, Albafilm Studio still exists, though it lost its former significance on the Albanian film scene. Being the largest film distributor, connected with over 700 films between 1947 und 2000, the company has been turned into a shareholding trade society, with the state as the main shareholder with no less than 51percent of the shares. Due to the scarcity of resources, very few documentaries have been produced during the last several years.
[1] Law No. 8096, 21st of March, 1996, on cinema and the status of the National Film Centre; see www.nationalfilmCentre.gov.al/dokumentar2.asp
TV Channels
Public and private televisions develop production, co-production and trade relations with producers, regardless of whether they have benefitted from the budgetary fund or not. For thirty years, the RTSH has been providing a full range of documentary programmes. The first documentary was made in 1971. Until 1991, documentary content was overwhelmingly dominated by the views of the ruling Communist Party. However, the RTSH remains the most important establishment for the production and broadcast of documentaries. Among the most well-known documentary productions of the RTSH is the series Great Families, highliting the Albanian families who influenced the history of Albania, but have been utterly marginalised and persecuted by the Communist regime.
After 1997, the birth of many TV private channels such as Vizion plus, News 24, Top-Channel or Klan coincided with the increase in the production of documentaries with a more provocative and independent approach. The private TV channels produced documentaries with a broader and more flexible approach and view, for example the series AFER DHE LAG / NEAR AND FAR by Fatos Baxhaku, produced by Vizion plus, which portrays the daily life and vicissitudes of the inhabitants of remote areas and villages of Albania. Another main subject of TV documentaries is the life of Albanian emigrants in Italy and Greece, openly depicting their disillusionment and defiance.
Coproductions
Unfortunately, there are only a few cases of documentary coproductions, mainly with France and Italy. In 1994, Cizie Zyke, a French director of Albanian origin, produced KANUNI / KANUN, dealing with the ancient Albanian constitution of the Kanun, while Migjen Kelmendi from Kosovo came to produce TË SHITUR UTOPIE / UTOPY (1994), an ironic look at the utopia of Albanian Communism as existing in people’s minds. Also in 1994, France 3 TV cooperated with Albanian filmmakers to produce a documentary on the Albanian writer Ismail Kadare. Independently, French director Agnese Berth produced TU SERA UN HOMME, MA FILLE, focusing on the Albanian women who have adopted men’s behaviours and attitudes after the men of the family have been assassinated. The Albanian history and comtemporary life offer plenty of subject matter for foreign directors. Currently, the Bulgarian Adela Peeva is working on her DIVORCE ALBANIAN STYLE, about the destinies of binational couples who were forced to divorce after Enver Hoxha’s break with the Soviet Union in 1961. The German film student Matthias Schwelm recently shot KU MUND TA GJEJ ENVER HOXHA?, attempting to locate the hiding-place of the gigantic monument of Enver Hoxha, which once dominated the main square in Tirana.
And yet, foreign directors and foreign audiences alike still expect a certain ludicrousness which marks the international reception of Albania, often fed by pejorative clichés. It is undeniable that international donors – like IREX (International Research & Exchanges Board), USAID (US Agency for International Development), UNICEF, DANIDA (Danish International Development Agency), the European Commission, and UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), which contribute to the national documentary production, mostly through small grants – are important in the development of the investigative aspect of documentaries, as well as the political culture. Still, there is always the danger of simplifying social and environmental subjects to conform to the established prejudice of Albania as a permanently backward country. Coproductions like RESCUE IN ALBANIA: HOW ALBANIA SAVED ITS JEWS DURING THE HOLOCAUST might draw international attention in another direction. In May 2006, American photographer Norman Gershman, in cooperation with the Albanian-American Civic League and Foundation, presented his documentary as part of a documentation project on the rescue of Jews in Albania during World War II. An eponymous 1997 book by Harvey Samer claims that in Albania, as opposed to any other occupied country in Europe, not a single Jew was allowed to be captured by the German occupiers.
Education and Directors
Up until two years ago, there was no film academy or a similar institution for studies related to the filmmaking industry in Albania. The old generations of directors studied in the former socialist countries. Due to the break with the Soviet Union, the younger ones studied acting in the Tirana-based Academy of Fine Arts, subsequently apprenticing as film directors.
In 2004, the first private film school, Marubi, opened at university level, with a strong emphasis on documentary direction, editing, camera, scriptwriting and production. In the same year, the Academy of Fine Arts opened a film department, being an important section of its overall structure of art education system. In addition, the National Film Centre and the Albanian Media Institute periodically hold training courses for the qualification, specialization and education of young filmmakers. Recently, the Albanian Media Institute (AMI) began its programmes in electronic media training, organising courses on basic TV journalism for TV reporters with basic professional skills for news reporting, documentaries and editing. There is also investigative journalism training, introducing the basic features and skills of investigative journalism. Among the topics addressed are the difference between investigative documentaries and breaking news reporting. These intensive training courses are attended by some twelve participants per class.
Albanian documentary directors mostly follow several careers, though. There are directors who make both documentary and fiction films, according to opportunities and possibilities. Young directors usually start their careers with documentaries or short films. There are very few pure documentarists, mainly attached to the various TV channels, like Pluton Vasi, Xhemal Mato, Esat Ibro, Kujtim Gjonaj, Ylli Pepo, Nexhati Tafa, and Namik Aazi. As a rule, documentary directors work as freelancers. A small number of directors from foreign countries come to Albania just to make a documentary, but there are also reverse cases, as when, for example, Albanian filmmaker Pepo went to Switzerland in 2006 to explore the situation of his countrymen who ended up in Swiss jails. KAPE TE ARDHEM / PACK DEINE ZUKUNFT, produced by the Swiss TV channel SF 1, portrays a Swiss pastor working with delinquents of Albanian origin.
Screening Opportunities: TV, Festivals, Cinema
Inside the country, very few documentaries are bought from the satellite TV stations which cover the diaspora audience. Albanian documentaries are rarely sold abroad. Documentary formats mainly target the TV market, but there are also some public screenings. Like most transition countries, Albania experienced a heavy decline in the number of cinemas during the 1990s. Albanian situation is comparably worse: out of 450 screens in 1992, today there are only four commercial cinemas left in total. There are also screening facilities in the film schools and cultural centres. Excepting the three running commercial cinemas in Tirana, there is no installed equipment for 35mm projection in Albania, which means that all the films produced locally, as well as international films and classics shown within film classes have to be screened on video, or projected from DVD. It is nearly impossible for documentaries to have a commercial run. The main event for the promotion of a new documentary is the premiere in a cinema, followed by a debate and a press conference. After that, there are no more screenings in film theatres.
Festivals provide another good opportunity for the screening of documentaries. There are three main film festivals, all Tirana-based:
> The Tirana International Film Festival, a private initiative supported by the Ministry of Culture and a number of foreign cultural institutions, featuring international short films, among them a number of short documentaries, up to 40 minutes in length;
> The Human Rights Festival, organised by the Marubi Film School; and
> The National Film Festival, organised by the National Film Centre, which takes place iregularly, showing not only films from Albania but also from the Albanian-speaking parts of the neighbouring countries – the 2006 edition was won by Isa Qosja’s Kukumi, produced in UNMI Kosovo. In 2006, twenty documentary films of various length were part of the programme, among them 14 films from Albania, two from UNMI Kosovo and four from Macedonia, such as LIRA (d.: Saimir Kumbaro, Albania), which won the first prize, DIOGJENI I AYTETERIMIT / DIOGENES OF THE ALBANIAN CIVILISATION, d.: Viktor Gjika, Albania; LUMIÉRET E BALLKANIT / THE LUMIÉRES OF THE BALCANS, d.: Ylli Pepo, Albania; NJERIU QË KAPERCEU SHEKUJT / THE MAN WHO LIVES OVER THE CENTURIES, d.: Donika Muci, Albania: HARMONIKA / HARMONICA, d.: Burbuque Berisha, UNMI Kosovo and LARG HAKMARRJES / FAR FROM REVENGE, d.: Merita Cocoli, Macedonia).
The first time an Albanian documentary was screened at an international film festival was in 1993, when PËRTEJ ËNDRËS / BEYOND THE DREAM by Ylli Pepo participated in the Festival Prix Europa, and received the Jury Prize. Xhemal Mato, known as a director of scientific documentaries, won a special prize of the 1995 Prix Leonardo Film Festival in Parma, Italy, with his film TRENI I VDEKJES / THE TRAIN OF EATH which denounces the transport of chemical garbage imported to Albania from Western Europe. Xhemal Mato is, incidentally, not only a filmmaker and a TV journalist, but also the president of the Association for Environmental Protection in Albania; he received threats for his stories about private businesses damaging wildlife in national parks.
In 1997, Pluton Vasi’s K.E.N.G.A. / K.E.N.G.A. - THE SONG received the innovation award from the International Federation of Television Archives. K.E.N.G.A. portrays the historical and social development of his country, using effective combinations of archive pictures and new material. In 1997, the death of a hundred people in the Ionian sea inspired director Irvin Muca to produce OTRANTO '97. The film dealt with the shipwreck of the boat with Albanian refugees leaving the country following the collapse of pyramid schemes, and had a strong influence on the public opinion and discourse. As for the political discourse, Esat Ibro’s ATDHEU FILLON NGA MARTIRËT / THE HOMELAND BEGIN FROM THE MARTYRS should also be mentioned. The film is based on the story of the political assassination of twenty-six well-known intellectuals during the Communist era, under the pretext of the alleged bomb in the Soviet Embassy.
Subject Matter
Albanian documentaries mainly aim to provide perspectives on important social issues – violence against children, trauma, prostitution, gender roles – or to portray historical, political and cultural personalities. After the tragic events of 1997, several documentaries have focused on the tragedy of people devastated by trauma and loss. A few documentaries dealt with the phenomenon of vendetta in the north, and children isolated due to this vendetta, or Kanun. Productions like Xhemal Mato’s latest film BLOWING UP THE BLUE WORLD about the history and present of dynamite fishing on the Albanian seashore, reach a high investigative level. Featuring numerous interviews on delicate ecological and societal matters, BLOWING UP THE BLUE WORLD is a solid attempt, its rational narration leagues away from maudlin pamphlets like ËNDRRA TË MBYTURA / DROWNED DREAMS, d.: Gledis Bica, 2006, about the tragic death of thirty-six refugees who drowned in 2004 attempting to cross the Adriatic and reach Italy, or ËNDËRR E KEGE, ËNDËRR E MIRË, d.: adil Hysaj, 2005, a syrupy ode which glorifies the NATO intervention in Kosovo, neither providing any background information, nor using the simplest of investigative means.
Documentaries are mostly screened on television. Of those, some 50 percent deal with historical subjects and the activities of the important patriotic and cultural figures of Albania, such as Mother Teresa, Fan Noli, Alexander Moisiu and Ibrahim Kodra. In addition, reports on environmental issues and religion are very popular.
Investigation
Not many documentaries touch on “delicate” issues, but TV productions deserve a mention in this context. IREX has, with USAID support, financed an anti-corruption investigative documentary series called HAPUR / OPEN. Loosely modelled on the American news programme 60 Minutes, the 30-minute time-slot of HAPUR aimed to investigate and expose corruption, abuse of public funds, infrastructure scandals and instances of human trafficking through public exposure and professional journalism. As an example, the series reported on the lack of transparency in the procurement and issuance of contracts between the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications and the mobile phone operators. The ministry has since revised its contracts and procurement procedure to make it more transparent. Twenty media outlets, including TVDH, broadcast these programmes, encouraging independent media to engage citizens, NGOs, and political parties to improve transparency, fight corruption, and promote better governance. The producers of HAPUR learned that today’s censorship resulted in TVSH directors receiving irate phone calls from officials.
Numerous televised reports lead to actions taken to prosecute or correct corrupt practices within government and society. The Ministry of Culture publicly announced that a project to protect an ancient mosaic in the city of Pogradec had been subject to corruption and a misappropriation of funds. This admission came following a HAPUR episode that showed strong evidence that a donation of 155,000 Euros by the German embassy did not result in the proper preservation of the mosaic.
Another important set of TV documentaries supported by IREX is HERONJTË E SHQIPËRISË / HEROES OF ALBANIA , depicting the ways in which common citizens inspire civic participation to improve their communities. To date, it has aired over 100 programmes, receiving top ratings on the private channels Vizion plus, Teuta TV and Klan. From an artistic point of view, this set of documentaries has virtually avoided the use of voice-over, otherwise widespread in Albanian documentary filmmaking. Instead, the directors focus on more than six characters per story. Both programmes represent a new model of television programming for the Albanian viewers. While 26 episodes of HAPUR have been produced, 103 episodes of HERONJTË E SHQIPËRISË / HEROES OF ALBANIA were shown to the viewers between 2003 and 2005, made by directors Pluton Vasi, Rajmonda Nelku und Saimir Kumbaro.
Through a series of documentaries, UNDP presented the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and their importance for Albania. These TV documentaries were produced in order to raise awareness of the MDGs, inform the Albanian public why the MDGs matter in Albania, and explain the long-term goals and objectives to be incorporated into existing development strategies and policies. Those documentaries mainly address the subjects of gender roles, education and environment. Some documentaries also supported from the UNDP present everyday realities in Albania, such as BEYOND THE RAINBOW, dedicated to women’s issues in Albania. It promotes gender equality, focusing on women of different ages, backgrounds and areas who share their real-life experiences, including housewives, villagers, unemployed, and women who work in traditionally male jobs. The European Commission has financed documentaries related to the EU programmes in Albania, attempting to raise public awareness about the European integration issues of Albania.
Ylljet Aliçka Biography
Ylljet Alicka, born 1952 in Tirana, lives in Albania. He made up his career as a writer and poet, publishing his novels, prose and scenarios in Albania and France. For his literary work, he was awarded with three international prizes. In 2001, the Albanian director Gjerggj Xhuvani adapted his most prominent book „Stone slogans“. Alickaj himself was the one to write the script for the film „Slogans“ which was awarded with five prizes on international festivals, among them the „Award of the Youth“ at the Cannes Film Festival 2001. Recently, Alickaj works as the script writer and co-director of Artan Minarolli („Moonless night“, 2004) adapting one of his short stories. - their film „Vera“ which tells the conflict between Christian-Orthodox and Muslim inhabitants in a small Albanian mountain village with subtle ironism, is to be finished soon. Recently, he started a new project in cooperation with the Serbian director Goran Paskaljević. In the end of the 90s, Alickaj was appointed Director for foreign affairs in the Ministry of Culture for five years. As the communication officer for Albania at the European commission, Alickaj is an experienced networker, involved in cultural politics as well as he is in the film and art scene of his country due to his artistic work. Since late summer 2007, Alicka is appointed as Albanias embassador in France.
