II - The Birth and Development of a Socialist Cinema

Summary

Abstract: This chapter first explores Albania's cultural and political ties with the Soviet Union. It then proceeds with a study of Albanian-made newsreels and documentaries, the sole existing film genres made in the early years of the country's cinema trajectory. It looks at the training of future Albanian film professionals in Moscow and examines a large-scale coproduction between the two countries. The documentary work of Endri Keko and Viktor Stratobërdha, who were both trained in the Soviet Union and who brought the genre to a higher level of artistic integrity, will be foregrounded. The chapter concludes with a discussion of Kinostudio's first feature film productions, an ode to socialist realism and an exploration of the partisan movement, the latter coproduced with Mosfilm.

Key words: Albania, cinema, Soviet Union, documentary, socialist realism, film education

This chapter explores the establishment of a socialist film industry in Albania following the birth of the communist state. It examines early works in the newsreel and documentary genres, which, for the country's first decade, constituted its sole film output. These years saw the consolidation of the People's Republic of Albania and the formation of the Warsaw Pact, of which Albania was a founding member. During this period, Albania had strong ties with the Soviet Union, which considered it a very strategic ally given its proximity to the West. The newsreels and documentaries produced by Albania gave strong voice to the triumphs of the young state, and this was framed in the context of Albanian-Soviet friendship. Films for entertain-ment were imported, a good number from the Soviet Union. Given that the new Kinostudio had few trained professionals, and moreover, was not yet in a position to provide its own training, future film artists and technicians were sent abroad to study in the Soviet Union, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. This chapter will discuss the first cohort of these students. Although brief mention will be made here of Stalinist film practices, references to Enver Hoxha's views on the arts and cinema will be reserved for Chapter III, given that these topics stem from Hoxha's speeches and documents of the 1960s and 1970s, as well from a contemporaneous Kinostudio manifesto.

The foregoing discussion will primarily proceed in chronological order, though not exclusively.