Albania and Kosovo at the Cannes Film Festival

Albania and Kosovo have their own space at the Cannes Film Festival this year. Both are there together with renowned filmmakers and producers who try to narrate the ideas, but also the reality in Albania and Kosovo.

"It's time for the cinematographic world to recognize us," says Sabina Kodra, a producer from Cannes. While for the Prime Minister of Kosovo, it's one more achievement in the efforts of Albanian artists, writes A2.

Sabina Kodra: Being an Albanian producer in Cannes, a survival guide.

Being an Albanian producer at the Cannes Film Festival is like jumping into a sea full of sharks - but with a fake Chanel bag from the New Bazaar and the hope that no one will understand! The day starts with a perfectly practiced "Bonjour" in front of the mirror, but ends with talking Albanian to yourself in the toilet because no one understood the idea for the next film.

While Hollywood stars move around in Bentleys, you do your "housekeeping" every time you take a taxi, thinking: "How many days of filming in Tirana would this trip cost me?"

At official receptions, when they ask you "what is your annual budget?", you smile elegantly and say "it's in the negotiation process."

In conversations with investors, you try to explain that Albania has amazing locations for filming, but half of them think it's a new country created after the war in Yugoslavia, and the other half ask if they can film in Enver Hoxha's villa, which no longer exists.

But despite the stratospheric awards, meetings that turn into geography lessons, and the questions "Does Albania have a cinema?", you return with your head held high and with the belief that someday we too will be more than a geographical expression on the map of world cinema.

Because being an Albanian producer in Cannes is not just a profession - it is an extreme sport, an art of resistance, and an unconditional love for a cinematography that, despite the challenges, continues to tell stories that deserve to be heard!

Oh, I forgot, when you return to Albania, they ask you: "Did you meet any Hollywood stars?", while you smile knowing that the red carpet is just a photo on Insta.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti has said that many years of work behind the scenes are spent on collaboration, networking, fundraising, adapting the artistic vision for international and local distribution and promotion, so that the one and a half hour cinematic product appears finished on the big screen. According to him, this year, the Kosovo Cinematographic Center, together with Kosovo filmmakers, are in Cannes to carry out some of these tasks. “The Kosovo Cinematographic Center has once again set up a stand at the Cannes Film Festival Market for 2025, again together with Albania. Maintaining old collaborations and starting new ones is the goal. Meanwhile, for filmmakers, Samir Karahoda, Kaltrina Krasniqi and Sami Mustafa, this edition of Cannes serves to push forward the development of their film projects, respectively, “Lost Images”, “Bleach” and “Symphony of Seasons”, Kurti emphasizes.

You can visit Albania and Kosovo at the Cannes Film Festival at the International Village Riviera, Pavilion number 137, until Wednesday, May 21, 2025. (A2 Televizion)