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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 February 2024
Abstract: This chapter focuses on Albanian cinema from the break with China up to and including 1984, the year prior to the death of Enver Hoxha. It will explore the political and cultural context of these years of isolation. This will be followed by an overview of the diverse themes of Albanian cinema during this period. Discussions will ensue on the children's films of Xhanfise Keko as well as on two works focusing on Albania's struggle against Fascist Italy that draw upon the theme of music. Special attention will be devoted to Piro Milkani and Kujtim Çashku's Ballë për balle/Face to Face, one of the most complex and subtle films of the communist period, which looks back nostalgically on Albania's years of friendship with Russia. It will conclude with a discussion of Çashku's Dora e ngrohtë (1983), which focuses on a wayward youth brought back into society by the warmth of the communist system.
Key words: Albania, cinema, communism, isolation, social issues
From the split with China through the period immediately prior to the death of Enver Hoxha, Albanian cinema took on new challenges, embracing a far more diverse range of subject matter and reassessing its stock themes from new perspectives. The filmography published by the Albanian State Archive assigns all films produced between 1953 (The Great Warrior Skanderbeg) and 2003 to specific themes. These do not constitute a one-to-one correspondence inasmuch as an individual film may be assigned to several categories. While earlier Kinostudio productions focused primarily on Albanian history, in particular the partisan struggle, and the triumph of the socialist state, themes that had been on the periphery in the 1960s and 1970s came to the forefront in the 1980s. As this decade developed new trends, the number of films dealing with social themes and women's issues increased dramatically, as per the Albanian Film Archives. Several films are even categorized as thrillers, a genre for which the films of communist Albania were not especially known (Arkivi Qendror Sheteror i Filmit, 2004). This clearly marks a major shift in production focus. Alongside these themes, a large number of films are set in the 1980s. Hence, Albanian cinema was no longer primarily rooted in the past.
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