ALBANIA ITALY / “Balkan Days Tirana-Rome” created during the European film market

At last October’s Balkan Film Market, the Albanian Film Centre emphasised the positive effects of doing co-productions with Italy. They then decided to share their experience with the other Balkan countries. Now Montenegro, Kosovo, Serbia, Macedonia, Greece and Bulgaria have all been integrated into the project.

The European film market at this year’s Berlinale was the opportunity to create an organisation which can facilitate co-productions between Italy’s Lazio region and the Balkans – Balkan Days Tirana-Rome. According to Cristina Priarone, director general of the Lazio Film Commission, this is a network to encourage interaction between producers and between institutions. The aim is to share experiences, create a synergy and balance the funding.

This cooperation with the Lazio region could be very useful, although uneven, since Balkan productions have smaller budgets and lower costs.

A call for projects will be launched at the end of March so that Balkan Days can select two or three per country. The chosen films will then be presented at the major film markets: at Cannes, at Rome’s Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo and at the Tirana Film Market.

Sources : Site du ministère de la culture, du patrimoine et du tourisme italien et Cineuropa

To consult our regularly updated list of festivals and film markets from January to June click HERE