TIRANA TIMES
TIRANA, Dec. 20 – Czech Republic’s “Woman in temptation” directed by Jiri Vejdelek was announced the best film of the eighth edition of the Tirana International Film Festival held from December 13 to 18.
The movie, was awarded for its “empathic reshuffling of character’s fates, convincingly acted and skillfully directed,” the international jury said. Ten other prizes were awarded in the closing ceremony of the festival, which brought to Tirana More than 80 movies from all over the world competing in five categories including feature films, short fiction, short experimental, short documentary and short animation.
Iran’s Mohammadreza Vatandoost was awarded the best director prize for his “When the lemon turns yellow” film. The best actor prize went to Kosovo’s Enver Petrovci for his starring role in the “Donkeys of the border” movie. “A master of acting, Petrovci managed to give shape to a multidimensional character simultaneously loved and hated by the public. His acting is already transformed into a style,” said the jury. France’s Sandrine Bonnaire grabbed the best actress prize in the “Queen to play” a Franco-German co-production directed by Caroline Bottaro. The best Fiction Short Film was awarded to Visar Morina for his “Death by suffocation,” representing Germany. The best documentary short film was won by Denmark’s Birgitte Str糭ose for her “Out of Love” dealing with traumatic effects in the “Newborn” country of Kosovo. The best Albanian movie award went to Kosovo’s Faton Bajraktari for the “Tri Dritare” (Three windows) film because of “the courage the director had to deal with a sensitive and difficult subject.”
The best animation short film was warded to French director Francois Bertin, while the best experimental short film to Finland’s Minna Korhonen. The public and media awards were won by directors representing Italy and South Korea.
With a logo resembling a biometric passport, a celebration of Albanians’ new freedom to travel to the EU without visas, the TIFF 2010 was held in two venues, at the Armed Forces Centre for Culture and at the Central State Film Archive premises.
Spanish director Juanma Bajo Ulloa participated in the Tirana International Film Festival (TIFF) in the framework of the Spanish Cultural Autumn in Albania 2010: “Nostrum, the Mediterranean through the five senses.”
Other special guests such as French producers Jean-Philippe Laroche, Serb director Boris Miti桷ere present in week-long festival which also paid tribute to late Albanian actors Bekim Fehmiu and Llazi Serbo and French director Claude Chabrol Created in 2003, this special cultural event, the first and only one of this kind in Albania, takes place under the auspices of the National Center for Cinematography (QKK).
