Welcome to Tirana European Youth Film Festival
1-5 September 2023
Official Selection
Festival Dates: 1-5 September 2023
“The Darma Effect”
"The Darma Effect"
Country: Spain
Synopsis: Jon is an aspiring filmmaker who decides to shoot a movie with his friends. On the set, Jon will meet Darma. A mysterious girl. From the first moment, Jon discovers that Darma is unique and that he will end up falling in love with her.
“Never Mind”
Never Mind (Va bene cosi)
Country: Italy
Synopsis: Riccardo is a separated fifty-year-old living with a much younger partner. On his birthday, the entire extended family gathers around the table. An already tense situation ends up exploding in drama. Ten years later, we find a completely different family and love set of circumstances. To reconstruct what happened, we will need to flash back over the past decade.
I Love You, I Swear (Te Dua, I Swear)
I Love You, I Swear (Te Dua, I Swear)
Country: North Macedonia
Synopsis: Three friends, Kokan, Deuce and Sax, experience a surreal road trip. After lots of alcohol and drugs are consumed at Kokan's house the trio heads off to his girlfriend's home to ask for her hand in marriage. Next day they awake, not remembering anything. A young Albanian woman is in the room with them. They soon realize that Kokan was rejected by his girlfriend and that they have bought a bride from Albania. The trio decide to return the bride back to her family in Albania and get their money back. Before they reach their final destination, the three friends and the Albanian woman meet several eccentric characters who will change their lives forever.
Life with You (Një jetë me ty)
Life with You (Një jetë me ty)
Country: Albania
Synopsis: A newlywed husband and wife narrate the story of their marriage. Subjectivity and misinterpretation of events leave room for the unfolding drama. Ultimately what unites the couple is something stronger than their temperaments.
Invisible (Invisibili)
Invisible (Invisibili)
Country: Italy
Synopsis:In a small village in southern Italy, everyone knows everything about everyone. Peppino's mother has just run away from home, abandoning his family. The barely-adult Peppino, nicknamed "Platini" since he was a child, and his father Geraldo, a truck driver, are both in crisis. Between injuries, training, auditions and lies, Peppino grows up under the strict rules of his father and spends his time with his coach-mentor, Carmando, a retired postman who makes everyone believe he played in Serie C. A young woman, Jenny, the debts of his father to Don Antonio, his difficulties in the youth teams of the capital will bring Peppino back to reality. To no longer feel invisible, Peppino must do something.
“Final Score”
“Final Score”
Country: France
Synopsis: A suburban boy, Dylan, rises through the social ranks while his academic achievements earn him a place at the prestigious Lycee Louis-le-Grand. Along with overcoming the traumatic events of his life, strange events will turn his exemplary life upside down and change Dylan's life forever.
Solar Wind Alley (Aurinkotuulenpolku)
Solar Wind Alley (Aurinkotuulenpolku)
Country: Finland
Synopsis: Alice lives with her younger sisters in a rural Finnish village in the house their mother built before she passed away. After her death, Alice takes her mother's place as the head of the family. When a solar storm hits the village, it leaves everyone without electricity and puts the community in crisis.
We'll be Fine (Jakos to bedzie)
We'll be Fine (Jakos to bedzie)
Country: Poland
Synopsis: Three friends from childhood now in their thirties - Albert, Marcin and Jacek - still live with their parents on the outskirts of the big city. After several years of fruitless struggle for existence, the three friends prepare for one of their most important actions. Something different that they won't hesitate to carry out. A contemporary comedy with an absurd, surprising sense of humor.
“Free style to Montenegro”
“Free style to Montenegro”
Country: Albania
Synopsis: In the summer of 1987, Tonin Gjini swam from Albania to Yugoslavia, in search of freedom. Three decades later, he revisits the locations and recreates the events of that unforgettable experience.
Our Jury
Blerta Zeqiri
Head Of Jury
Filmmaker Blerta Zeqiri (Prishtina, Kosovo, 1979) directed the groundbreaking short film The Return (2012) which became the first Kosovar film accepted into the renowned Sundance Film Festival where it won the festival’s short film jury prize. Zeqiri’s debut feature, the FIPRESCI-winning The Marriage (2018) is considered Kosovo’s first film to focus on LGBTQ rights. Since 2012, Blerta is a member of the prestigious European Film Academy and honored as a ‘Knight of the Order of Arts and Literature’ by the French government. Blerta Zeqiri is currently the director of Kosovo’s National Film Center.
Fatmir Koçi
Writer and director Fatmir Koçi (Tirana, Albania, 1959) began his filmmaking career at the tail end of Albania’s communist regime. Koçi’s breakthrough came with his Thessaloniki fest award-winning fictional mix of comedy and drama, Tirana Year Zero (2001), which chronicled Albania’s difficult years transitioning from dictatorship into democracy. Fatmir Koçi directed the 2007 First World War period epic, Time of the Comet, based on a novel by Albania’s Booker-winning novelist Ismail Kadare. Koçi’s most recent feature, The Rise and Fall of Comrade Zylo, finds Fatmir tackling yet another book adaptation, this time from acclaimed Albanian author, Dritero Agolli.
Victor Van Vught
Victor Van Vught is a Berlin-based Australian music producer, engineer and sound mixer. Since 1983, Van Vught has collaborated on records for such diverse artists as PJ Harvey, Luna Depeche Mode, Gogol Bordello and Beth Orton. Van Vaught spent his teenage years working sound boards and producing in his native Melbourne, Australia. Eventually his production work with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds took him to London where he established a solid reputation leading to critical success, multi-platinum record sellers and nominations and awards for Grammy’s, Brit Awards and Mercury Prizes.
Neil Young
Neil Young (Easington, UK, 1971) is a Vienna-based film-critic/curator and occasional filmmaker from Sunderland. Young regularly reviews new film releases for Screen International (aka Screen Daily) and contributes to several international outlets including the magazine ‘Sight and Sound’. A former director of the Bradford International Film Festival at the UK’s National Media Museum, Young now works for several film festivals around Europe including the Viennale and Vienna Shorts (Head of Selection, Austrian Competition).
Tirana European Youth Film Festival Staff
Festival Director: Elkjana Gjipali
Creative Consultant: Thomas Logoreci
Event Manager and Graphic Designer: Gert Loshi
Scenography: Rael Hoxha
Content Creator, Social Media Manager and Junior Graphic Designer: Malda Lika
Content Creator and Social Media Manager: Annika Përmeti
Screening Curator: Ergys Meta
Translator and Subtitle: Sebina Matlija
Jury Assistant: Lisja Tërshanaj
Accommodation: Kristi Goxha, Serena Fejzo, Saimir Manaj, Redi Halidini, Jonas Kepi
Screening Assistant: Noel Nakuçi, Leo Meçaj
Press Release: Ina Baqoshi
Interpreter: Ermela Celaku, Kevin Nervaj, Klios Hoxhallari
Host: Dea Nura, Livia Herri, Edra Tabaku, Lorraine De Jerphanion, Mia Butka, Andia Papa, Pakita Rustemi, Klesta Ademaj, Ilvena Naum