During Enver Hodxa's cruel, forty-year dictatorship, no one from Serbia was allowed
to visit neighboring Albania, over whose soil were scattered several hundred thousand
defense bunkers. Today, after the conflicts in Kosovo, there is still only a very small
number of Serbs who decide to visit Albania. Prejudice and bad politics have
contributed to a latent intolerance between the two nations.
Three years ago, Genc Permeti, a young painter and writer, and his colleague Ilir
Butka, also a writer and film producer, unexpectedly invited me to show three of my
films in Tirana. Those were The Powder Keg (Cabaret Balkan), Midwinter Night's
Dream, and The Optimists, my so-called "Serbian trilogy". I must confess that I
hesitated, but they were so insistent that I finally gave in and went to Tirana. During
the entire time my films were shown, Tirana's only movie theater was filled to
capacity; people were even standing in the aisles off to the side. Even today, I recall
with much emotion the exceptionally long applauseat the end of each showing and the
audience's questions, which were not even for one moment malicious, but utterly open,
intelligent, and fair. What most surprised me then was the fact that the Albanian
audience was familiar with the majority of my early films through pirated copies,
which was practically the only way to become acquainted with Serbian films.
During my first stay in Albania in December of 2006, I met many intellectuals who
thought like I did, who were beyond any kind of fiery nationalism. I discovered that
Albanians and Serbs, although they speak two completely different languages,
have
much in common, notedly the deep desire to become an integral part of Europe.
During long conversations over a glass of raki (Brandy), the idea was born that we try,
through our combined efforts, to make a movie, which I would direct with a mixed
crew. One week after my return from Albania, I wrote the first synopsis.
I imagined the film as a triptych. The Albanian story, with the cooperation of Genc
Permeti, is about a young couple who wishes to leave Albania because circumstances
don't allow them to fulfill their relationship. Next, the Serbian story is about a young
couple who also want to go to western Europe in the hope that they will have more
chances there than in Serbia. Finally, the third part intertwines the destinies of these
two couples. Their stories unwind parallelly and they never meet, as would usually be
the case in standard films. However, I am convinced that at the end of the film
viewers will have the impression that these young people, are in the same imaginary
space, while they wait on the threshold of Europe; the Albanians in a port in southern
Italy, and the Serbs on the Hungarian border in the backroom of a small railway
station. Nevertheless, after the first bitter disappointment on the border of that so
green "better" world, dawns a new morning for both.
The creation of this joint production film, the first Albanian-Serbian coproduction,
which we immediately entitled "Honeymoons," became possible one year later when
we received financial support from the Serbian Ministry of Culture and the Albanian
National Film Center, as well as the Apugilla Film Commission. The filming flowed
without any major difficulties, even though we communicated with each other in
a
mixture of English, French, Italian.... After two months spent together, farewells
between the Serbian and Albanian crew was touching, almost melodramatic; everyone
had tears in their eyes. We all wanted to shoot together just one more film...and one
more.... It is of note that the Serbian and the Albanian actors have never met, even
though they have acted in the same movie. Their first meeting will be at the film
festival in Venice.
Goran Paskaljevic