Country: Italy
Year: 2023
Duration: 62'
A documentary that studies the complexity of a nation, Albania, by narrating the controversial story of one of its monuments. A road movie in space and time of the “land of eagles,” a story about its perennial condition of “transition”: from socialist monuments to skyscrapers, from red flags to the new green empire... Where are the old socialist monuments of Albania and what are they becoming? And now, after years of changing the system, which monuments have been erected in this new, neoliberal and turbo-capitalist era?
Biography
film director
Fabrizio Bellomo
(Bari, 1982) conducts multidisciplinary research. He has exhibited his works in Italy and abroad, in solo and collective exhibits; published editorial projects; and participated at film festivals. He took part in the Italian Pavilion at the Architecture Biennale in Venice; and has collaborated with the Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Foundation, “La Repubblica”, and MuFoCo. His first documentary, L’albero di trasmissione, was presented at the 2014 Festival dei popoli. His short films 32 dicembre, La guerra delle sgagliozze, and Litoranea San Giorgio-Torre a Mare, combined under the title Portrait of Bari, were presented in 2012 at the Cinemed Festival du Cinéma Meditérranéen in Montpellier. His documentary Film (2020) premiered at the 38th Torino Film Festival, just like the following Commedia all'italiana (2021).
FILMOGRAFIA
Portrait of Bari (32 dicembre, La guerra delle sgagliozze e Litoranea San Giorgio-Torre a Mare, doc., 2012), L’albero di trasmissione (doc., 2014), Film (doc., 2020), Commedia all’italiana (doc, 2021), Anulloje Ligjin (doc, mm, 2023).
Declaration
film director
“Before going on this journey to Albania, I spent a long time researching the statues and monuments of socialist realism. I conducted this work using technological means before I left; it took various months and had actually begun a few years earlier, with notes I took during other projects that I carried out in Albania. This research didn't even end when the shooting was completed because the additional time I spent in the region allowed me to acquire more information, plus archival material was put at my disposal by the Albanian Film Archive, and all this was put in relation to our experiences. This stimulated new questions and curiosity, and, above all, sparked in me the desire to learn more about the topic, making more research necessary. The new material added new layers to my research and bolstered the work I had already conducted. After all, from my point of view, a movie that is like an allegory of any period of transition, of any place, person, or thing, could only live off stratifications. And chaos.”
Cast
& Credits
DIRECTOR, CINEMATOGRAPHY, EDITING, SOUND: Fabrizio Bellomo. CAMERA: Fabrizio Bellomo, Graziana Di Santo. CAST: Luan Shkodra, Mumtas Dhrami, Ferid Kola. PRODUCERS: Fabrizio Bellomo, Arthouse Shkodra. PRODUCTION: Friccicarella Film.
CONTACT: Fabrizio Bellomo fabriziobellomo@msn.com
