A platform for merging the cinema with environmental concerns has led to the establishment of the International Environmental Film Festival Albania which marks its fourth edition this year. Supported by the European Union for two weeks from May 22 to June 5, the audience will have the opportunity to watch over 56 films from 29 countries from all over the world. The films will be screened in Tirana, Shkodra, Gjirokastra, Vlora, Pà«rmet, Ersekà«, à‡orovodà« and Valbona. Covering a wide range of environmental issues that concern many countries around the world, the film topics include electronic waste, city smog, forest fires, the importance of oceans, wild animals, water scarcity, food waste collection, and preservation of rivers.
The fourth edition of the Environmental Film Festival in Albania (EFFA) aims to help film-makers to produce movies in Balkan on environmental subjects. The EFFA organisation will support Balkan movies, offering to the film-makers/producers the possibility to personally present their work in Albania during EFFA 16, and offering them media attention. The EFFA organisation will also stream the information through international networks of festivals to spread these movies worldwide even after EFFA 16.
“The films that we will see during the festival will help us all become more aware and see how we can act as individuals as well as together to protect our environment,” said in her speech, the Head the EU Delegation in Albania, Romana Vlahutin. “Environmental protection should receive more political attention and sufficient resources,” added Vlahutin.
The festival is an opportunity to learn more on the global and local environmental issues and on possible solutions.
Four different prizes will be awarded at the end of the festival for feature, short, experimental films and new talents from the Balkan countries. The organizers announced that some other activities that will complement the screenings will be an art competition, a photographic exhibition and a show with ecological art. Furthermore, seminars on biodiversity, climate change, health, gender and agriculture will engage activists, experts and journalists over the coming two weeks. Since the first edition in 2013, Albania Environmental Film Festival has served as a main activity for environmental education, as well as an opportunity for filmmakers to showcase their creativity.
