TIRANA, Sept. 22 – Albania has selected the Krom (Chromium) movie as its submission for the 89th Academy Awards for Best Foreign language Film in the 2017 Oscars.
An Albanian, Kosovo, German, and Greek co-production, Chromium is a feature film directed by Albania’s Bujar Alimani focusing on the drama of children in the poor northern Albanian town of Bulqiza, known for its chromium mines and tragedies in mine accidents. The movie which made its Albania premiere in late 2015 after touring several international film festival in the Czech Republic, Germany and France recently won the critics award at Italy’s Otranto Film Festival.
“The idea of the impact by two female characters on a growing teenager has always attracted me, especially the influence from mothers, teachers, life, knowledge, the perpetuity and adventure which in essence, is nothing but a game of power troubling the fragile and double spirit of a 15-year-old,” says director Alimani.
The movie focuses on a mute and lonely mother who lives a life that is far from easy, which she handles with dignity and courage. Her 15-year-old son is trying to stand on his own two feet, but in so doing, he only complicates the grim situation in the family.
This sensitive coming-of-age picture is the second feature film by Albanian director Bujar Aliman after his award-winning Amnesty movie which represented Albania in the 2011 Berlinale film festival.
Chromium is the tenth film Albania has submitted for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film since 1996. None of the previous eight submissions has made it to be nominated for an Oscar.
Last year, Albania submitted the Bota (World), a feature film directed by Albania’s Iris Elezi and Thomas Logoreci for the 2016 Oscars.
