altcine - Tirana IFF 2014, 3-9/11

Created in 2003, Tirana IFF is the first and only international cinema festival of its kind in Albania. TIFF showcases new cinematic works by established directors of international reputations as well as films by students and young artists, while it organises classes and seminars with professionals in the motion picture industry geared for Albanian students of the cinema and emerging filmmakers.

The festival has extendet its program to seven days, November 3 to November 9 in order to encompass not only the competing shorts and features but to allow the attendance of retrospectives, seminars, classes, press events and special presentations at theatres all over the Albanian capital.

Festival Director, Agron Domi and Artistic Director of TIFF, Genc Permeti

This year΄s sections include the Feature Film Competition, Short Film Competition, DIGIART, Television Short Film Competition and Albanian Short Film Competition while the Feature Film Competition awards will be presented in the following categories: Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Actor, Best Actress.

International Feature Competition

Falling Star by Luis Minarro, Spain, 2014

Gone Back by Ernest Meholli, Netherlands/Kosovo*, 2013

Indian Summer by Gejza Dezorz, Slovakia, 2013

Love Me by Philipp Eichholtz, Germany, 2014

Rock In My Pocket by Signe Baumane, USA/Latvia, 2014

Termitaria by Joseph Israel Laban, Philippines, 2013

The Medicine Seller by Antonio Morabitto, Italy/Switzerland, 2013

Viktoria by Maya Vitkova, Bulgaria/Romania, 2013

International Feature Competition Jury is comprised of Elma Tataragic, producer and programmer of Sarajevo IFF, film historian and head of the Albanian Cinema Project, Regina Longo, and Gabor Pinter, director and producer.

A very special and beloved Albanian film is opening the 12th Tirana IFF. Tomka And His Friends by Albania’s most famous female filmmaker, Xhanfise Keko was recently restored by the Albanian Cinema Project, an initiative dedicated to preserving, restoring and promoting Albanian film heritage, with the support of the Albanian Ministry of Culture, the US Embassy in Tirana, the Albanian Center of Cinematography, the Albania Film Commission, the Association of Moving Image Archivists and concerned members of the international film and film archives community.

Tomka And His Friends by Xhanfize Keko

In the context of the general growing interest on Balkan cinema, Tirana IFF tightens its collaboration with altcineAction! Online film festival, presenting a selection of 10 shorts from the recent 2014 edition. TIFF originally began as a short film festival. Its short film categories, the Albanian Competition, the International Competition, the Documentary, Animation and Experimental sections once again present to the Albanian audience the latest from the region and International talents.

Moroever, Katriel Schory, Israel Film Fund΄s Executive Director, will present a selection of 8 films (2 features and 6 shorts). Schory is also having a 2-days workshop on Script developing in short fiction and documentary films.

altcineAction! 2014 Special Screenings

Keep the Change by Vahit Atan, Turkey, 2013, 7’

Sundness by Antonios Vallindras, Greece, 2014, 15’

Adrenaline by David Bagaric, Croatia, 2013, 4’

What? by Alma Andreescu, Romania, 2013, 4’

Them by Darko Štante, Slovenia, 2014, 14’

Habitat by Ina Georgieva, Bulgaria, 2013, 4’

Penguins by Dimitris Zahos, Greece, 2012, 13’

Botev is an Idiot by Deyan Bararev, Bulgaria, 2012, 9’

Evergreen by Ifigeneia Kotsoni, Greece, 2012, 14’

Linda by Antonia Milcheva, Bulgaria, 2012, 12’

Viktoria by Maya Vitkova

International Short Film Competition

A Small Time-Space Discontiniuum by Goce Cvetanovski, F.Y.R.O.M, 14’

Amel by More More Raça, Kosovo*, 23’

Child K by Roberto De Feo & Vito Palumbo, Italy, 22’

Crossing by Amos Ezra Katz, Singapore, 18’

Dead Hearts by Stephen Martin, Canada, 16’

Dog Eat Dog by Patrice Deboosère, France, 2’

Dub Play by Nemanja Lazic, Serbia, 20’

Flapper by Nicolas Sarkissian, France, 29’

Flash by Alberto Ruiz Rojo, Spain, 7’

From Anger by Margo Fruitier, Belgium, 22’

Grounded by Alexis Michalik, France, 19’

Guys Girls by Liam Engle, France, 13’

Holiday At The Seaside by Cristina Grosan, Bosnia Herzegovina, 16’

Home & Key by Shwan Attoof, Iraq, 14’

Nevermind by Jean-Marc E. Roy, Canada, 5’

One Of Them by Ilirjan Himaj, Kosovo*, 30’

Red Hulk by Assimina Proedrou, Greece, 28’

Room 606 by Peter Volkart, Switzerland, 15’

Rosemary Jane by Carolina Petro, UK, 17’

Substitute Teacher by Shiry Price, Fiction, 17’

The Dinner by Suela Bako, Albania, 15’

The Outlaw by Aldi Karaj, Albania, 20’

The Sleepwalker by Lenz Mauricio Claure, Mexico, 21’

The Swing by Damien Dunne, Ireland, 12’

The Visitor by Christian Johannes Koch, Germany, 30’

Tom In America by Flavio Alves, USA, 16’

Tryouts by Susana Casares, USA, 14’

Two Boys And A Sheep by Lee Hyung-Suk, South Korea, 18’

Working Day by Zacharias Mavroeidis, and Vaggelis Karamarigos, Greece, 10’

To conclude, TIFF, in co-operation with the DIGITALB and NTV will offer a 24 hours a day TV channel, whose content will be short works in the fiction, animation, documentary and experimental categories of the 2014 edition. In the festival΄s own words: "It is our belief that this undertaking will bring the public an easy and accessible way to view and appreciate achievements in the short film form".

For the Albanian Short Film Competition, International Short Documentary, Animation and Experimental categories, check TIFF΄s official line-up.

Original source: TIFF official site