The film tells a turbulent year, 1997 in Albania, through the stories of a group of friends. On the thread of memories, real images and archival images and staging will alternate to draw a portrait of a generation, before, during and after the events that have marked their lives. The film goes beyond the news and allows the viewer to approach in a more intimate and profound way the experience of the protagonists. Reviving their past on the screen. A coming out age film with semi-documentary tones, which help to bring the facts narrated back into the reality of our days.
In 1997 I was 9 years old, and today, 22 years later, I realized that the memories of the events of that year are slowly fading away.
During the research I decided to meet my childhood friends to ask what they remember. My friends like me have fragmentary memories of events, so talking to them through travels in their childhood to reconstruct a memory that each of us keeps only in part by trying to make it become a shared heritage. Find out if this event has influenced in any way the lives of all of us, at the time adolescents, and understand if today we see residues of those events in Albanian society. A non-fiction with a present made of interviews, with the memories of friends, and shot on the sites of action. The memories, with the reflections, with the judgments, which also concern the Albanians, the Albanian politicians and their acting as politicians, also not very clear. And a past made up of recreations of events lost in the memory where there are no archive images to present and represent the life of the adolescent years.
Country of production: Italy
Shooting Format(s): 4K 2160@25p; HD 1080@25p
Original Master Format: HD 1080@25p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Screening Format: DCP, Apple ProRes or any on request
Audio Format: Stereo (2.0)
Running time: 80'00”
Subtitles available: German / Italian / English
Director: Erald Dika
Cinematographer: Simone Endrizzi
Editor: Erald Dika
Soundrecordist: Gabriella Cosmo
Interpreters: Ervin Doda, Dionis Marku, Mateo Çili, Vladimir Doda, Ismet Zusi
ZeLIG is located in Bolzano, Italy, a multilingual city where different cultures live together. The school is a place of exchange for students, teachers and film professionals from all over the world.
At ZeLIG the spoken languages are German, Italian and English. This creative approach to linguistic variety opens the gates to the international markets and to future opportunities.
