Tirana Film Fest Faces Oblivion

Screening at TIFF | Photo by : Shpend Begu

The Tirana International Film Festival, TIFF, was only the latest of several international artistic events held in Albania that had to downsize in 2011 owing to cuts in public funding that have placed a question mark over its continued existence.

The festival, which opened on December 6, 2011, for a week, screened 80 short films from 63 countries, combining a calendar of features and short films in all formats and genres, including fiction, documentary, animation and experimental.

Each year TIFF showcases new cinematic works by established directors with international reputations as well as works by talented students and young filmmakers.

But although the film festival has become a staple of Tirana’s cultural scene for almost a decade, the organizers face increased problems in securing funding, which they say has robbed it of much of its glamour, media and public attention.

Throughout its nine years, the Albanian government was TIFF’s main donor, from 2003-2005 through the Ministry of Culture and from then until 2010 through the National Center of Cinematography.

In the past TIFF was one the best-promoted and financially healthiest festivals on Albania’s art scene. In 2009 the popularity of TIFF reached a peak when its budget reached 18.5 million lek (€134,000), which is considered a large budget for an Albanian film festival.

But in 2010 TIFF was granted only 3.4 million lek (€24,000), as a result of which it lost most of its ability to market the festival through the local media.

“The ninth edition of TIFF starts with zero funding and we are here today only because we have decided not to let it die,” Ilir Butka, the festival’s artistic director, said at the opening ceremony in December.

“Tirana International Film Festival 2011 is organized under the auspices of God,” he added with a self-deprecating nod towards the financial difficulties that the event had encountered.

TIFF 2011 was hosted in a cinema multiplex in one of Tirana’s shopping malls. The organizers were allowed to use one of the two theatres in the commercial centre for free.

As in past editions, the competitions awarded films in following categories: feature films, short films, the DIGIART television film competition and a special competition for Albanian movies.

But unlike in past years, the organizers in 2011 said the awards handed out could not be accompanied by financial rewards.  

Until two years ago, the prizes attached to the awards ranged from €2,000 to €3,000 and several other smaller prizes were handed out to participants.

“We have been announcing it upfront over the past two years that awards will not be accompanied by financial rewards; participants either have to take them or leave them,” Agron Domi, TIFF’s executive director, said.  

Artan Minarolli, Director of the National Center of Cinematography, said that for the 2011 edition the centre tried to help by calling a meeting with the organizers.

But Domi pointed out that the offer emerged unofficially just one week before the festival started, months after TIFF issued official requests for support.

Although the former financial rewards are no longer available, filmmakers participating this year cited the tradition created by TIFF in the past as their motive for wanting to take part in the event.

“I participated in TIFF 2003 with my first short and remember a spectacular cinematographic event,” said director Beryl Koltz-Chedid, awarded in this edition as Best Director for her movie “Hot, Hot, Hot”.  

“That’s why I came back here with my first long feature, and it’s great to be awarded while at the same time is sad to see TIFF facing its demise,” Koltz-Chedid added.   

Fabricio Cattani, who scooped the Public and Best Actress awards for his film Maternity Blues, also made a pitch on behalf of the festival.

“You should not let this festival fade away,” Cattani said. “It’s very important to have an annual organized film platform, as TIFF already proved itself to be, not only as a showcase for Albanian productions but to keep its public spirit alive,” he added.

Domi, the festival’s organizer, says that Albania’s state institutions lacked a thought-out agenda on cultural priorities and the arts in general were “suffering terribly as a result of brutal political favouritism”.

Although TIFF survived this time around, thanks to the support of a group of volunteers, keeping the doors open in future will not be easy.   

“The ninth edition is done, and for this the merit goes mostly to our supporters, but our main concern is for the future,” Domi underlined.

This article is funded under the BICCED project, supported by the Swiss Cultural Programme.