TIRANA YEAR ZERO

Portrait

A story of love in the chaotic aftermath of the turmoils of 1997. Niku is 23, and lives with his ailing father and unemployed mother in a drab concrete housing estate in Tirana. He gets by with occasional jobs as a lorry driver. Unlike his girlfriend Klara, the young man does not want to leave Albania – he is the family breadwinner, and also has some previous experience of life as an immigrant in Italy: “You work and then you sleep.” A portrait of the Year Zero in which Albanians faced the decision whether to go or to stay, the film attracted international notice, and also addresses another question: what to do with the relics of the Communist past.
Tirana viti zero / Tirana im Jahre Null
ALB, FRA 2001 / 90 min
Director: Fatmir Koçi
  • Screenplay: Fatmir Koçi,Heinzi Brandner
  • Cinematographer: Heinzi Brandner
  • Cast: Nevin Meçaj,Ermela Teli,Rajmonda Bullku
  • Producer: Fatmir Koçi,Thierry Lenouvel,Martine Lambrechts
  • Production Company: KKOCI Productions - Tirana,Ciné-Sud Promotion - Paris
  • Rights Holder: Ciné-Sud Promotion - Paris
A story of love in the chaotic aftermath of the turmoils of 1997. Niku is 23, and lives with his ailing father and unemployed mother in a drab concrete housing estate in Tirana. He gets by with occasional jobs as a lorry driver. Unlike his girlfriend Klara, the young man does not want to leave Albania – he is the family breadwinner, and also has some previous experience of life as an immigrant in Italy: “You work and then you sleep.” A portrait of the Year Zero in which Albanians faced the decision whether to go or to stay, the film attracted international notice, and also addresses another question: what to do with the relics of the Communist past.
  • Screenplay: Fatmir Koçi,Heinzi Brandner
  • Cinematographer: Heinzi Brandner
  • Cast: Nevin Meçaj,Ermela Teli,Rajmonda Bullku
  • Producer: Fatmir Koçi,Thierry Lenouvel,Martine Lambrechts
  • Production Company: KKOCI Productions - Tirana,Ciné-Sud Promotion - Paris
  • Rights Holder: Ciné-Sud Promotion - Paris