Albanian Film Festival announces winners

TIRANA, Nov. 12 – “East-West-East,” a comic satire on the collapse of the communist regime in Albania, has been announced the best feature film of the Albanian film festival. Directed by Gjergj Xhuvani the film follows a national cycling team who get the chance to compete in France, in the virtually unknown capitalist West, only to find themselves stranded enroute in Italy as the society they left behind ceases to exist overnight with the fall of its leader. With a strong performance by an ensemble cast, the film is a comic and fond look back to the mid-1980s when the country was plunged into chaos that brought it to the brink of anarchy. The film was selected as the Albanian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at 2010 Academy Awards.
In a closing ceremony held on Nov. 9, Luli Bitri was announced the best actress for her lead role in Amnesty. She was handed over the award by Italian actor Remo Girone, the festival’s special guest well-known in Albania for his starring role in the “Octapus” TV. Veteran actor Fadil Hasa was awarded the best actor prize for his role in Mao Tse Tung (Mao Ce Dun). The jury’s special prize went to Joni Shanaj’s Pharmakon which has been nominated to represent Albania in this year’s Oscar Awards.
A special prize was also awarded to “Besa: The Promise”, an acclaimed documentary about Albanians who saved Jews from Nazis in World War Two. Prizes were also awarded for the best documentary, best short film, and best support roles. The career award went to Muharrem Fejzo who directed more than a dozen movies from 1970 to 1989 just before the collapse of the communist regime.
The festival held from November 3 to 9 at the Millennium cinema in Tirana brought together filmmakers and actors from Albania Kosovo and Macedonia. Some 16 feature films, 25 short films and 20 documentaries have been shortlisted to compete in the festival. “The Despair of Mrs Schneider,’ “East-West-East,” “Secrets,” “Alive.” “Balkan Bazaar,” “Out of Touch” and “Amnesty” were some of the feature films competing in the festival.
The festival opened with the screening of the restored version of the Nentori i Dyte (Second November) movie. The 1982 movie featuring Albania’s independence under the leadership of Ismail Qemali was restored in the United States by the Colorlab Film Corp., working in collaboration with the Albanian Film Archive and the Albanian National Film Center on the hundredth anniversary of Albanian independence.
The 100-year old history of the Albanian national anthem was also featured in a documentary directed by veteran Piro Milkani and Petrit Ruka. Shot as part of events commemorating Albania’s 100th anniversary of independence, the documentary features several Albania cities but also Romania, where it was composed by Ciprian Porumbescu. The 50-minute documentary brings lots of interesting facts about how Albanian migrants in Bucharest brought the national anthem to Albania by learning it by heart.