The speech of Minister Elva Margariti on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the former Kinostudio

 

July 2022

I believe that many of you have made your way to Kinostudio not without excitement today, although a lot has changed in this area. So what we are trying to do is to return it to the artists and the community, turning it into an Art Park, where there will also be exhibition spaces, film screenings, creative spaces…

This evening is indeed a good omen!

I am truly honored to have you all here today, although this is your home first.

Each space of this building and the surrounding premises has a meaning for you…. and I cannot hide that all of us “bureaucrats”, who work here today, feel small in this building with a great history.

Today we are here for the 70th anniversary of Kinostudio, which I don’t think is simply to evoke a golden period of Albanian cinematography, but above all to honor that constellation, whose mission did not end only with the establishment of Kinostudio, but continues and will continue from generation to generation, as a school, as an example to be followed for talent, work, dedication, passion…

Today I see honorable directors among us, that if Albania had been open, not only the cinemas of the region would have competed.

I see stars of the screen, with a pure Albanian beauty, that would leave world divas in their tails.

If Sofia Loren, Ghina Lolobrigida and Brigitte Bardo walked the red carpet of Venice and Cannes in the 60s and 70s, we had stars like Tinka Kurti, Margarita Xhepa and then Marjeta Ljarja , Rajmonda Bulku, Yllka Mujo, Spresa Bërdoluma, Eva Alikaj, Luiza Xhuvani, Elvira Diamanti, Anisa Markarjan…

We are proud of them because they preserved dignity at a time when dignity was trampled by a system that suppressed every dream. They were ladies and artists who, beyond ideologies, created great figures.

Just as we had Marlon Brando and our James Deans, the rebellious boys, for whom the doors of the cinemas were broken, such as Naim Frashëri, Timo Flloko, Ndriçim Xhepa, Ardian Cerga…

In a small world like ours, we lived the big dream.

Today, the Film Archive stores 4327 Albanian productions, feature films, documentaries, cartoons…

Can you imagine?

There are over 6.4 million linear meters.

Among them, 270 are feature films, contribution of the extraordinary work of directors, screenwriters, actors, painters, composers, sound engineers, editors, technicians…

And this effort raised on passion deserves a museum. Our ambition is to build a museum dedicated to Albanian film, in these premises, so that Kinostudio is not simple: it used to be ours!

We have an obligation to you not to leave this project on paper.

I and anyone who has admired you through the screen could spend hours talking about the light you have shed in dark times. And whoever will not see this light or those messages of freedom that you conveyed even at risk, is simply blind.

All I can do is thank you, even though the thanks are few.

This evening is yours today!