Maya gets award in Welsh film festival

TIRANA, May 31 – Albanian director Pluton Vasi has been honored with the Festival Director Choice for his movie Maya at the 2011 Swansea Bay Film Festival held last May in Wales. Maya, which is the first feature film by Pluton Vasi, had also been nominated for the Best International Film category. “The participation in a film festival is very important, because it is a possibility for cooperation, especially when our film is nominated. It is something extraordinary, because this film is 100% Albanian production,” said Vjollca Dedei, producer of Maya. Maya made its premiere in Albania early in 2011 at the Imperial Cinemas in Tirana. A low-budget film, Maya is an all-Albanian production, featuring a mixed cast of young and professional actors. The story takes place in the quiet imaginary gossip town of Gromas. “In a quiet town, Gromas, everything changes with the arrival of a “foreigner” called Samiu. He is of Albanian origin and is fulfilling his father’s last will who escaped abroad after the World War II by bringing his remains back to Albania. Samiu wants to leave, but a woman, Maya, who has fallen in love with him, will change his plans.”