Discoveries from Albania World Cinema

After losing their livelihood in a village, a Kosovar family is forced to move to the capital in pursuit of a place in a hypercapitalist society.

A biography of George Kastriot Skanderbeg widely known as Skanderbeg, a 15th-century Albanian lord who defended his land against the Ottoman Empire for more than two decades.

Bardhi works as a teacher in a remote area. When one of the students abandons the school, Bardhi tries to help him.

A seventeen-year-old boy and his younger sister’s dreams and aspirations are put on hold when their father is accused of murder.

Four partisans are tasked with delivering a song to the Congress of Përmet.

Luizi, a forgotten singer, suddenly becomes famous overnight and all of Albania goes crazy. In order to protect his fame and win the heart of Kiara, the girl he loves, he must keep a lie alive, one that drags them both into a chain of hilarious and chaotic situations.

An illegal immigrant from Albania infiltrates the lives of a group of Londoners with devastating consequences.

Fahrije’s husband has been missing since the war in Kosovo so she sets up her own small business to provide for her kids, but as she fights against a patriarchal society that does not support her, she faces a crucial decision: to wait for his return, or to continue to persevere.

Sixty years after the nuclear devastation, a few survivors cling to life in a ruined industrial zone. Ten-year-old Niko lives with his grandfather Lexi, convinced that their territory is a "paradise" worth defending. Lexi indoctrinates Niko to hate the rival survivors across the railroad tracks. A violent confrontation with a feral child triggers a brutal conflict in which the children serve the adults' power struggles. As the adults' violence escalates, Niko realizes that Lexi is not the man he thought he was. The arrival of Xeni's family reveals that borders are a prison, and escape threatens deadly consequences for the children.

Koli, an honorable elderly man has just opened his business, a "Funeral Agency." Everything seems perfect, except for the fact that he unintentionally finds himself caught in the trap of a criminal gang. Together with his brother, whom he has employed in his agency, they will go through many trials, during which they meet Besi, believing him to be the right solution to their problem. However, in reality, this solution becomes a harm inflicted upon Besi, who, justifiably, will use them to rectify the wrongdoing committed against him. Friendship and enmity, danger and adventure, laughter and tears will accompany them on the crime-laden path of no return, in pursuit of the hope that the truth will prevail.

In a high-stakes reality show set within a grueling military barracks, ten contestants push their physical and psychological limits for fame, only to realize the true danger lies in the hands of the manipulators behind the camera.

A driver is tasked with sending weapons illegally to the partisan soldiers.

A film is being shot and the cast is mostly comprised of children. Little Genti is stressed because his parents are getting divorced.

Events take place in an isolated mountaineous village where a rabid dog bites the son of Fatime. The woman has to decide where to take her son, to the doctor or to Aunt Remja, an old woman who practices magic.

Cesare Dell'Anna is an Italian trumpeter as talented as he is whimsical. Heir to a family of brass band musicians, he and his group Hotel Albania have launched a musical genre steeped in the rhythms brought by Balkan migrants. During summertime, everything is a pretext for playing music on big stages as well as village squares.

Beni is an eight-year-old boy living in Korçë with his parents and leads a sheltered life. His mother is very protective and doesn't let him play outside. When Beni is able to go outside, the neighborhood children make fun of him. One day when his uncle Thomai is visiting, he sees Beni crying after the other children took his horse. Thomai decides to take Beni on horseback to a distant village where he teaches him about life and how to be a man.

Anna and Tom are ready to declare their relationship to Tom's father officially. But how can they explain to him that Anna and her "family" feed on blood and cannot tolerate daylight? In the chaos of the city of Tirana, their relationship is put to the test, along with the inevitable sacrifice.

A young man is searching for the war to free his country and establish freedom. Instead of war he finds the love of his life.

Images and reality intermingle in this account of the writer's own experiences under totalitarian regime.

During the riots of 1997 in Albania the retired photographer PETRO travels from his hometown Gjirokastra to the capital Tirana. He has taken pictures of a killing with his Super-8-camera and wants to get the film developed. Petro doesn't know that he shot material that shows how a TV-camera causes the death of a man and his granddaughter in order to get a good story. Unfortunately Petro meets this cameraman - BERTI - on the trip to Tirana. When the film is finally developed Petro gets to know the truth - and he knows his life is in danger! After many adventures on the road he tries at last to present the film to the public. But he must realize that the material was stolen. So only Petro knows the truth while the media spread lies about the deaths of Girokastra.

Olga's decision to live with her daughter Meli, who works as a doctor assistant, in a remote village turns into situations full of vicissitudes. After an entire trade fair of correspondence to find a groom from the city, Olga presents Koçi to Mili, who pretends to be a true artist. But Meli has fallen in love with Bujar, and doesn't seem to want move away from the village.

After the war, the country is plagued by famine. The secretary party committee, Martin Kreka, leads a campaign to gather the grain that is sold in the black market.

In a mining plant in Kosovo, as occurs in many work organizations across the country, workers continue to win new positions in the self-management. The former miner and fighter - now general manager of the factory - is on the side of the workers, but has troubles in personal life.

Mentor Hasa, a senior officer of the State Security, finds himself from a "spy" into a tapped man and his life takes a dramatic turn. His last wish to his son, Martin, is that his story is told to the whole world.

Bota (Albanian for “the world”) is a cafe situated on the edge of a vast area of marshland in a remote part of Albania, and it is here that the lives of the protagonists intersect in this compelling debut by Iris Elezi and Thomas Logoreci. The directors skilfully exploit the genius loci of the desolate landscape and, aided by a period score and beguiling long shots, they flawlessly evoke the atmosphere of a place where the past still encroaches upon people’s lives.

Based on true events, a young man raised in a cruel and oppressive family environment, leaves Albania with the dream of becoming a rock star and living a better life. His reckless character and his youth passions lead him to commit a murder in Athens. Chased by everyone, even by his own self, he is imprisoned under the harshest conditions. With the help of a German doctor, he learns to feel sympathy for others and guilt for his crime. His deep remorse will lead him from darkness to light.

In an orphanage in Tirana at the beginning of the Second World War during the occupation by the Italian fascists, a group of boys make plans to rebel against the despotic director and the oppression by the management.

Albania, 1996. Mira lives in Elbasan with her two sons while her husband works illegally in Greece. Struggling to make ends meet, she invests in a pyramid scheme, hoping for a better future. When close friends migrate, mira grows desperate and sells their apartment to reinvest, moving in with her parents. But the scheme collapses, the country falls into chaos, and mira loses everything. Her teenage son toni becomes violent, eventually arming himself during a riot. Fearing for their safety, Mira decides to flee Albania with her sons. After a dangerous journey, they arrive in Thessaloniki—lost, without Arben, but finally together. At the luna park, they find a fleeting moment of peace.

A young couple and her brother spend a lot of time together around the city, having a lot of fun but all this happiness ends in the most unimaginable way.

Eve's Gate is the road to illusory happiness, on which two young Albanian girls run across the sea, so that there, even at the cost of body and soul, but to buy a little happiness. They will have to fight for love, resolve doubts that will force them to think about many things. Whether everything can be sacrificed, whether everything can be sold, how to fill the spiritual void, how to keep happiness...

Nebi Surreli lives in poverty along with his mother. Doing small jobs to earn a living, he also helps his town's communist unit.

Story depicting the national liberation struggle of the Albanian people against the Italian and German invaders during World War II.

On the anniversary of the death of Commissioner Ibrahim Kovaçi, six of his war friends are accompanying his statue to his native village, where a ceremony will be held. During the road, each of them remembers moments related to the life of Ibrahim.

Fresh out of the joint, a 47 year old man returns to his Bronx neighborhood and immediately becomes entangled in obsessive revenge whilst trying to court a local gal.

Handsome Albanian villager Arben wants to marry Etleva, daughter of a neighboring clan, but her father has promised her to another man who is offering a 10,000€ bride price. But when it turns out Etleva is carrying Arben's child, the pressure is on for him to come up with the dowry before the baby is born -- and before her brothers take revenge for the dishonor he has brought their family. Fleeing to Berlin without papers, experience or knowledge of the language, Arben soon learns the ways of survival.

A young college student from rural Albania leaves school to visit home, only to find himself embroiled in his family's deadly blood feud.

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

Tomka is a boy who likes playing football with his friends. When the German army captures his town, the German soldiers establish their camp in the town stadium. Tomka with help from his friends and their parents organizes sabotage actions against the soldiers.

In a weather of unexpected rains, work is suspended at the dam of an important hydropower station and the safety of the project is jeopardized. The situation weighs heavier on the chief designer, eng. Ilir, who together with his comrades does his best to come out of this difficult situation.

Valbona, a young singer, goes on a journey to find her ensemble friends who have gone on a tour throughout Albania.

Hëna, who works in a construction site, falls in love with another worker, Agim.

As Nazi's arrive in his village, an Albanian peasant is torn between protecting his family or saving two Jewish men he's been hiding for a year.

In an indeterminate future, forbidden memories challenge a database containing all human memories. An experimental cinematic search between past and future, fiction and fact, Prishtina and Tirana. The future, a glitch.

It is a cine comedy following "The Lady from the town". Olga is getting ready to go to a meeting of the district women activists, where she will relate her own experience in the struggle against conservative concepts. During a warm atmosphere, Olga sings the first lullaby to her newborn nephew: "Once upon a time there was an Olga who posed as a lady.Time passed by and the lady has become one of us, a comrade from the country"

Met Sokoli is a young pioneer who fights against a band of saboteurs entering Albania.

The movie is based on a Fatmir Gjata screenplay. Gjata had written a novel with the same title earlier. The events evolve in the 1950s. The main character, Tana, is a smart, outgoing and progressive young woman. She is in love with Stefan (Naim Frashëri) and they both live in an unnamed mountain village in Albania. Tana has to face the old mentality of her old grandfather and she also has to fight the jealousy of Lefter . It is a love game, while socialist progress is highlighted as is often in the socialist realism.

Someone falsifies the lab data regarding the quality of imported goods. This results in the contract with a foreign company eing broken. The suspect is a specialist who handles the contracts. With these acts, saboteurs are trying to spread doubt and insecurity.

The movie is set in Nis, Serbia. A girl from Pittsburgh called Sophia, who lives and works as a designer in an international construction company in Nis, decides to change her bad habits and her life for the better, after hearing an advertisement on the radio and applying for a huge international casting for top models. Until the day of the casting, Sophia is working on herself and is making changes in her life that she never imagined she would. However, after the casting and the CEO Marc’s decision, as well as the decision of his assistant Jenny and the whole ‘Markofit’ team, Sophia is faced with true disappointment and goes back to her old ways. Nonetheless, this soon changes after one conversation with Jenny, the assistant. The movie ‘Change’ was created with a goal to show support to all the people around the world, who do not believe in themselves and lack motivation. The film puts forth the idea that anything is possible in life if we are willing to make changes.

Miti, an old worker, and Sokol, a young driver, undertake a long journey to transport a huge metallic tower from the Durrës harbor to an important plant.

A well-off young lesbian couple vacationing on a Greek island explores an abandoned hotel. An accident and a clash of different worlds set off a spiral of violence and revenge.

Besim does not like his stepfather Ahmet. He abandons school and commits some mistakes, but with help from his friends, he returns to living a normal and healthy life.

Marta is a young, energetic girl who wants to become a tractor driver. Her husband, Adem, initially supports her, but then she discovers his true nature.

In today’s Tirana, Agim and Gëzim, two inseparable deaf-mute identical twin brothers, live under the same roof. Ana, Gëzim’s girlfriend, a young high-spirited woman in her thirties, visits them quite often. One evening, Agim is driving back home with Gëzim, when his sight gets blurred and a fatal accident nearly occurs. At the ophthalmologist, a few days later, the two brothers discover that due to a genetic and rare disease, they will separately, but progressively and irreversibly go blind. Slowly immersing into an unbearable silenced darkness, not being able to see the world and each other anymore, only Ana by their side, the two brothers have to make a strong decision around a cup of coffee with new shoes on.

A serbian young girl visits Albania in search of the roots of an old story about her Grandpa during the War of 1941. She falls in love with an albanian guy, starting an "impossible" relationship between two nations divided by war.

After Mato Gruda, a man living in a remote village in the mountains of Albania, steals a cannon abandoned by the German invaders he has to decide whether to use the weapon to support the Partisan resistance or to avenge his family.

Mimoza is a haughty girl who only argues with her friends. However, through experiences and advice, she will change and become friendlier.

It is 1961 and an Albanian student (Nik Xhelilaj) of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, together with a group of Czech students, is shooting his graduate movie on a motorcycle factory, in the small market-town of Český Šternberk, in then Czechoslovakia. Coming from a country that is completely isolated from the rest of Europe, he is fascinated by the lifestyle, society and "erotic exuberance" of the Czech golden youth, yet feeling strong links with his family in his homeland. He falls in love with a married woman (Anna Geislerová), the wife of a police superintendent (Paolo Buglioni) and is insecure about his future.

Albania, 1958. Luana, the daughter of a well respected man in the village, makes friends with Agim, who moved here after his family were banned from the city by the communists. Years later, their childhood friendship turns into teenage love, but without prospects. Luana’s father promised her in marriage to someone else when she was a child. When her father finds out about Luana and Agim’s love, he is furious and immediately arranges for his daughter to be married to the man he chose for her. Luana faces a dilemma: to flee with her lover to Germany, risking being caught by the communists and probably killed, or stay loyal to her family. A poignant love story set in dark times shaped by pressure from old traditions. A deeply human tale about freedom, which is the greatest good even if the price is loneliness.

Tomori has managed to infiltrate a foreign agency and is trying to discover their secret documents, bases, and means of communication.

Two friends from Tirana attempt to solve a murder mystery at a Durrës resort while masquerading as wealthy men, encountering love interests, criminals, and self-doubt along the way as they navigate their first case as private detectives.