THE DELEGATION
Bujar Alimani| Director | Bujar Alimani |
| Producer | Emir Turkeshi Gramo - Art Film; Zorba Production, Graal Films, Bleri Production |
| Writer | Artan Minarolli |
| Camera | Ilias Adamis |
| Editor | Bonita Papastadhi |
| Cast | Viktor Zhusti, Xhevdet Feri, Ndricim Xhepa, Ermir Topi, Gani Morina, Armend Smajli, Rovena Lule, Selman Lokaj, Richard Sammel |
| Sound | Xenophon Kontopoulos |
| Original Title | DELEGACIONI |
| Year | 2018 |
| Length | 77 min |
| Country | Albania/France/Greece/Kosovo |
| Subtitles | English |
| Section | Current Relevant Cinema / Focus: Europe, 30 Years After the Berlin Wall |
| Screening | Friday 8 November | 21:45 hours | Filmhuis Den Haag Sunday 10 November | 19:15 hours | Filmhuis Den Haag |
An Albanian government official is sent on a mission to a faraway prison in order to bring an important dissident back to the capital. But nothing goes as planned. Winner of the Grand Prix at the Warsaw IFF and Trieste FF.
Synopsis
October 1990, the communist regime in Albania is trying to hold on to power. A European delegation comes to Tirana to monitor the government’s implementation of reforms. In a remote area of the country, a political prisoner is transferred overnight without knowing where or why. The car transporting him breaks down deep in the mountains. The prisoner gets acquainted with his two guards, officials devoted to the Albanian Communist Party. Their personal stories intertwine and tensions burst, just like the history of a country in turmoil.
Festivals & Awards (selection)
Tirana International Film Festival, 2018 – Best Screenplay, Media Award, Audience Choice Award, Special Mention for actors Viktor Zhusti, Ndriçim Xhepa, Xhevdet Ferri | Warsaw International Film Festival, 2018 – Grand Prix, Ecumenical Jury Award | Trieste Film Festival, 2019 – Best Feature Film, PAG Jury Award
Director's bio
Bujar Alimani was born in 1969 in Patos, Albania. He studied painting and stage directing at the Academy of Fine Arts in Tirana. In 1992 he immigrated to Greece, where he worked as an assistant director on several Greek films. His feature debut “Amnesty” (2011), was the first Albanian film funded by the Council of Europe fund, Eurimages. The film was the first official participation of Albania at the Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the CICAE Prize. His second film ‘’Chromium’’, a co-production between Albania, Kosovo, Germany and Greece, was screened at many festivals around the world, and went on to represent Albania in the foreign language category at the Academy Awards 2016. ‘’The Delegation’’ is Alimani’s third feature film. He lives and works in New York, USA.