Albanian Cinema through the Fall of Communism: Silver Screens and Red Flags

Table of Contents\nPreface. A Personal Journey towards and through Albania and Its Cinema\nAcknowledgements\nIntroduction\nAlbania—The Context for a Little-Known Cinema\nSome words on the Balkans at large and at small\nAlbania in a postcolonial context\nAdditional words on the complete isolation of Albania\nThe arts in Albania\nAlbanian cinema and the project of this book\nFilms chosen for discussion and analysis\nStructure of the book\nI. The Roots of Cinema in Albania\nThe Ottoman Period, Independence, and the Fascist Occupation\nA sequel as a prequel\nThe Manaki brothers\nEarly filming in Albania\nMihallaq Mone\nII. The Birth and Development of a Socialist Cinema\nAlbania and the Soviet Union\nAlbania and the Soviet Union\nEarly Albanian newsreels and documentaries\nThe training of young film professionals in Moscow and linguistic and continued cultural ties between Albania and the Soviet Union\nSergei Yutkevich’s Luftëtari i madh i Shqipërisë Skënderbeu/ Великий воин Албании Скандербег/The Great Warrior Skanderbeg: A Soviet-Albanian coproduction\nAnother level of documentary: Endri Keko\nInnovation silenced: Viktor Stratobërdha\nInnovation silenced: Viktor Stratobërdha\nKinostudio’s first feature film: Kristaq Dhamo’s Tana\nKristaq Dhamo: A coproduction with the Soviet Union\nIII. The Flourishing of Kinostudio\nAlbania’s Rapprochement with China and Albanian films during the Cultural Revolution\nEnver Hoxha on the arts in a socialist society\nEnver Hoxha on the arts in a socialist society\nHysen Hasani’s DEBATIK: Children and vigilance\nFeature films of the early to 1960s through 1976\nNgadhnjim mbi vdekjen/Victory over Death (1967): Heroines of the partisan movement\nDhimitër Anagnosti’s Duel i heshtur/Silent Duel (1967): A Cold War thriller\nViktor Gjika’s Clear Horizons/Horizonte të hapura: A hero of the working class\nViktor Gjika’s Rrugë të bardha/White Roads: The New Man reexplored\nFehmi Hoshafi and Muhharem Fejzo’s Kapedani/The Captain (1972): In communist Albania, women had the last laugh\nImagining Albania’s landscape, both bucolic and harsh\nDhimiter Anagnosti’s Lulëkuqet mbi mure/Red Poppies on the Wall: Totalitarianism defied\nIV. A Cinema in Isolation\nHistorical context of the years of isolation\nThematic diversity of Albanian cinema in the period of isolation\nXhanfise Keko’s children’s films\nMusic and national identity\nPiro Milkani and Kujtim Çashku’s Ballë për ballë/Face to Face: Nostalgia for Soviet friendship The ensuing discussion of Piro\nKujtim Çashku’s Dora e ngrohtë/The Warm Hand: A wayward youth redeemed\nV. Kinostudio in the Post-Hoxha Era\nRamiz Alia’s Albania\nLate Kinostudio productions\nAdaptations of Kadare\nA stance against corruption\nEsat Musliu’s Rrethi i kujtesës/The Circle of Memory (1987): Posttraumatic stress and memory loss\nEduard Makri’s Shpella e piratëve/The Pirate Cave (1990): Childhood and adventure\nSome Words in Conclusion\nTowards an Albanian Cinema of Postcommunism\nEsat Musliu’s Vitet e pritjes/Years of Waiting (1990): Emigration and women\nTowards the future\nBibliography\nFilmography\nIndex