HONEYMOONS - VENICE DAYS (Film Review)

Film Reviews
Honeymoons -- Film Review
By Deborah Young, September 07, 2009 04:37 ET
Bottom Line: Masterful storytelling in the first co-production between Serbia and Albania. Venice Film Festival, Venice Days/Critics Week

VENICE -- Following in the wake of Goran Paskaljevic's Serbian trilogy -- "The Powder Keg," "Midwinter Night's Dream" and "The Optimists" -- "Honeymoons" addresses the Balkan youth drain, in a tale about two young couples, one Serbian and one Albanian, who leave their countries to seek greener pastures in Europe. The story is familiar but it is told with masterful skill that involves the audience deeply in the social and family context of the would-be emigres. The film has the distinction of being the first Serbian-Albanian co-production and offers a rare glimpse into today's Albania, which has only recently begun to emerge on the international film scene.

Koha e kometës - Nga Ronnie Scheib, “Variety”

Shqipëria e përshkuar nga protagonisti i filmit “Koha e kometës” paraqet një multikulturalizëm tolerant që i gjen në luftë alternativat e veta të krisura

Nga Ronnie Scheib, “Variety”

Ushtarë të painformuar përfshihen në konflikt dhe tronditje kulturore në filmin “Time of the Comet, ” të regjisorit shqiptar Fatmir Koçi ("Tirana viti zero"), që i bashkon absurditetin e luftës me absurditetin e plotë që në një kohë ka qenë Shqipëria.

I vendosur pak para Luftës së Parë Botërore, filmi rrëfen për aventurat pikareske të një heroi të ri që i bind pesë bashkëfshatarë për ta ndjekur atë në betejë. Gjatë rrugës, ata ndeshen me udhëheqësin homoseksual të banditëve, me një mbret të sjellshëm prusian, me një murgeshë të kryqëzuar dhe një mysliman që vetëflijohet, derisa fati i kombit varet nga një lafshë penisi. Romantik, tragjik dhe thellësisht shumë zbavitës, “Time of the Comet” mund të gjallërojë vendtakimet artistike. 

USAID assists the Albanian government in its anti-corruption efforts

Enforcing the Copyright Law in Albania

Foreign films on fifty television stations were illegally broadcast for the Albanian public 24 hours-a-day. Hollywood movies, MTV, and CNN dominated the TV screen free of charge to anyone with an antenna. Some of the films had not even reached the European market before they had arrived on the Albanian TV set.
Every station also had access to a full set of 300 Albanian featured films, plus 1,300 documentaries produced before 1991. They played them repeatedly without fear of being charged with piracy. Film producer Fatmir Koci was never paid for his films. “The stores were filled with my films and TV stations were stealing them right and left. I never made any money once the films were produced.”

Photo: USAID/Albania Karla Christensen

Fatmir Koci proudly displaying his film that he has recently sold since the Copyright Law’s implementation.

“I would never have imagined getting this sum of money three years ago.”- Film Producer Fatmir Koci on being paid $12,000 by a local Albanian TV station for “Tirana 2000,” one of his internationally recognized films.

USAID, with the International Research and Exchange Board (IREX), is combating broadcast piracy head-on and ensuring that only licensed programming is allowed to be broadcast on the television. The Copyright Law in Albania was passed 14 years ago in Albania, yet, it was clear that the government had turned a blind eye to abuses of the law. With USAID help, the National Council of Radio and Television (NCRT) was created to control the licensing of TV programming in Albania, and the Albanian parliament made amendments to the Copyright Law, which allowed NCRT to penalize those stations in noncompliance.