TIRANA, July 14 – Italy-based Albanian film and documentary director Roland Sejko has been honored with the Order of the Star of Italy by President Sergio Mattarella for his contribution to the mutual recognition of Italians and Albanians through cinema.
Sejko known for his “Albania, The country across” and “La Nave” (The Ship) documentaries has been working for two decades with Istituto Luce, Italy’s oldest film production house. His two documentaries trace Albanian-Italian relations in the 20th century and the early 1990s exodus of Albanians to Italy after the collapse of the 45-year communist regime.
“The ‘Albania – The country across documentary’ illustrates relations between the two countries which have always been the focus of my work. Albania is the country which Italians almost ideally view from the ‘balcony,’” Sejko told Italian media.
“The Luce Institute archival materials are often a reference point for the strong relations until 1945 before the communists took over in Albania and the migrant exodus in the “La Nave” documentary film. My latest work ‘Italian architecture in Albania’ introduced at the Italian cultural week was also based on archival material by the Luce Institute,” he added.
The Italy-based director is expected to be awarded the title at ceremony in Tirana by Italian ambassador to Albania Alberto Cutillo.
Since 2011, the Order of the Star of Italy has been revised shifting from post-war reconstruction to the preservation and promotion of national prestige abroad, promoting friendly relations and co-operation with other countries and ties with Italy.
In addition to being involved in a wide range of activities from historical film archives to feature film production and distribution, Sejko is also a journalist and cultural reporter. He founded the Albanian-language newspaper Bota Shqiptare (“The Albanian World” ), targeted to the Albanian community in Italy.
He is also developing a documentary about the destinies of Italian soldiers and civilians in Italy after WWII and the advent of communism.
Some 500,000 Albanian live and work in neighboring Italy, the country’s top trading partner, with a key contribution to Albania’s development since the early 1990s following the first waves of exodus after the collapse of the communist regime.
