Shqipëria - Notes from Albania

Besa: The Promise

July 2012 •English

A documentary exploring how Albanians, including many Muslims, helped and sheltered Jewish refugees during WWII at their own risk, and trying to help the son of an Albanian baker that housed a Jewish family for a year return some Hebrew books that the family had to leave behind.

Fragments of Humanity

January 2022 •Finnish

In the Kosovo War, human dignity was shattered by the terrors of the Serbian government and the Albanian liberation army. Truths about the victims’ fates faded away, which is why a Finnish forensic research group led by Helena Ranta got a mission to act as an unbiased agent and investigate the real course of events.

La conquista de Albania

September 1983 •Spanish

King Carlos II of Spain (r. 1665-1700) once sent his brother Luis to lead a military expedition into Albania and conquer that land for the Spaniards. Since Albania was a part of the dowry of Luis' wife, it seemed like a reasonable idea at the time. While that expedition and its final battle is the subject of this historical film, the scale involved can hardly do justice to the concept. The protagonists talk incessantly, and by the time they get down to the final grand battle, it turns out to be a skirmish between several dozen men.

Dear Enemy

March 2006 •Albanian

Dear Enemy tells the true story of the director’s grandfather who became friends with a German officer during the WWII German occupation of Albania while hiding a partisan, an Italian soldier and a Jewish watchmaker in his cellar.

The Albanian Challenge

February 1971 •French

Albania is the country in Europe that Europe probably knows the least about. Underdeveloped yesterday, Marxist today, breaking with the Kremlin, in friendship with Red China, we hardly know more. For journalists, the country of Enver Hoxha is one of the most closed 'hunting' territories in the world.

Albánie – kráska se špatnou pověstí

February 2012 •Czech

A, B, C... Z

February 1971 •Albanian

Children get ready to start the first grade. They start learning the first letters.

Concert of 1936

April 1978 •Albanian

In 1936, two female artists (a singer and a pianist) visit the city of Lushnja, which was very conservative.

The Undamaged

October 2018 •English

The Balkans cradles Europe's last wild rivers and supports abundant wildlife and healthy, intact ecosystems. These rivers are "The Undamaged" – clean, pristine, and undammed. With over 2,700 small and large hydro power plants planned or under construction in the Balkans, corruption and greed are destroying the last free-flowing rivers of Europe. Follow the Balkan Rivers Tour, a rowdy crew of whitewater kayakers, filmers, photographers and friends who decided to stand up for the rivers, travelling from Slovenia to Albania for 36 days, kayaking 23 rivers in 6 countries to protest the dams and show the world the secret wild rivers of the Balkans. The film honours everyday people and local activists who are fighting to defend rivers and aims to spread the word of the plight of these rivers, showing a new style of nature conservation that is fun, energetic and effective.

Stories of the Kosovo War

January 2019 •English

A documentary unraveling the untold stories and brutal experiences of the Kosovo War in the late 1990s.

KLLEZNA - PLACE OF THE TREE BRIDGES

Invalid date •Albanian

A short documentary about a small village in the city of Ulcinj, that has 3 bridges.

Dear Albania

October 2015 •English

Eliza Dushku takes on her homeland of Albania.

Dua Lipa: Elevating

March 2022 •English

One of the most recognizable voices in all of modern day music, Dua Lipa quickly rose to fame. Her catchy tunes and sultry vocals make her music appeal to a global audience.

Inchiodato

April 2005 •Albanian

Albania

January 1945 •Albanian

Made by the highly influential Russian cameraman Roman Karmen, this documentary vividly features Albanian life immediately after the communists came to power in 1944. The film is especially memorable since it’s missing much of the heavy socialist realism that marked Albanian doc making. Shortly after he completed the film, Karmen set off for Berlin to shoot the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany.

Here Be Dragons

August 2013 •English

Filmmaker Mark Cousins goes to Albania for five days, and films what he sees. He discovers that the movie prints in the country's film archive are decaying. In investigating this, Cousins begins to encounter bigger questions about the history and memory of a place. Perhaps a country whose 20th Century, dominated by its authoritarian ruler Enver Hoxha, was so traumatic, should allow its film heritage to fade away? Perhaps a national forgetting should be welcomed? Influenced by the films of Chris Marker, Cousins' film broadens to consider the architecture of dictators and the great icon paintings of Onufri. In the past, when cartographers knew little about a country, they wrote on it Here be Dragons. Albania was, for decades, one of the least well know countries in the world. Cousins' road movie meditation takes the advice of Goethe: "If you would understand the poet, you must go to the poet's land."

Vendetta - Obliged to kill

August 1996 •Albanian

A dramatic depiction of honor, family feuds and thousand-year-old traditions. In Albania, the tradition of avenging an injustice according to the motto "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" still lives on. This has led to people being trapped in their homes for fear of being murdered due to a family feud.

The Man Who Loves Gary Lineker

March 1991 •English

Follows rural GP Dr Ylli Hasani who risked imprisonment in totalitarian Albania by listening to the BBC World Service to keep up to date with world events, especially English football.

Anulloje Ligjin

November 2023 •Italian

A documentary that investigates the complexity of a nation, Albania, through the narration of the convoluted history of its monuments. What happens to the statues when they are destroyed, what are they replaced with and where do their marble shreds end up? What happens to their expensive bronze? And again: what do the sculptors who made these statues think of these destructions, what is their opinion. And today? Which statues are being destroyed in Albania today?

Azem Galica

January 2011 •Albanian

Story of Azem Bejta (1889–1924), commonly known as Azem Galica, who was an Albanian nationalist and rebel who fought for the unification of Kosovo with Albania.