SYNOPSIS

Rudina sets off on a long journey with her unmarried pregnant sister, Elma, to meet their strict, traditional father in the Albanian village where they were born. As Rudina\’s car makes its way across the mountains, Elma comes up with a plan to enlist an ex-classmate to play the part of her husband.

DIRECTOR’S NOTE

As a younger filmmaker coming from a certain generation, I feel tremendous empathy and fascination for these characters. I find myself particularly drawn to this confrontation between the traditional values of our parents and real human values. Perhaps this is the one thing ideology has not been able to impact: the very specific nature of the Albanian family. The characteristics of these clans are often marked by an extremely stubborn and serious father, a long-suffering, hard working mother, and children who attempt to live their own lives but feel they must please their parents. For me as a director, the inner workings and dynamics inside families, Albanian and otherwise, are the compelling material of which great cinema is made. The sisters in my story go to ridiculous lengths to please their father by producing a pretend husband for his benefit, a length that puts their lives in danger. For me, this absurdity perfectly captures the awful, tragic and sometimes humorous social landscape that marks Albania in the past twenty years.

BIO

FILMOGRAPHY

• 2013 If… (short)
• 2012 Without Words (short)