TIRANA, Feb. 20 – Albania and Kosovo will mark a second year of joint cultural projects after the successful launch of a joint calendar of events only in 2014, six years after Kosovo’s independence.
Speaking at a meeting with her Kosovo counterpart in Prishtina, Albania’s Culture Minister Mirela Kumbaro described the joint calendar of events as a new opportunity to further promote cultural exchanges between the two neighbouring countries which share a common language and history.
“This is only the beginning of a year with high expectations when both the Albanian and Kosovo culture ministries with support artists in joint projects,” she said.
Kosovo’s Culture Minister Kujtim Shala described the second year of cooperation as a further effort to promote the national culture in Albanian-speaking areas.
“The joint cultural events in books, theatres, cultural heritage, movies, music and visual arts are an honour to our national cultural activity,” said Shala.
The joint calendar of events for this year has already kicked off with the screening of the Sworn Virgin movie, a coproduction with Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Kosovo based on a novel by Albanian writer Elvira Dones, in this year’s edition of the Berlinale film festival.
Kosovo soprano Besa Llugiqi also performed in Tirana at Suor Angelica” and “Gianni Schicchi,” two operas part of Puccini’s The Triptych which brought home Albania’s international opera stars, soprano Ermonela Jaho and baritone Gezim Myshketa.
The 2015 joint calendar of events will feature Albanian and Kosovo artists in Gjirokastra’s national folklore festival, a joint participation at the Cannes film festival, several opera concerts in Tirana and Prishtina, an exhibition of socialist realism and the Dokufest documentary and short film festival in Prizren.
In a separate meeting with Kosovo Minster for Diaspora Valon Murati, Culture Minister Kumbaro discussed the establishment of joint cultural centres in the Albanian Diaspora and the celebration of Albanian cultural days in Albanian communities abroad.
Under a deal signed last year, Albania and Kosovo will be holding joint exhibitions, singing, film and theatre festivals, arts and cultural heritage conferences in the next four years. The deal followed the first ever joint meeting of the Albanian and Kosovo government in the neighbouring town of Prizren in Kosovo in January 2014.
