Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and share ...

has submitted films for the

Academy Award for Best International Feature Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

since 1996, but only a regular basis since 2008. The award is handed out annually by the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion ...

to a

feature-length A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

motion picture produced outside the United States that contains primarily non-

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

dialogue. It was not created until the 1956 Academy Awards, in which a competitive Academy Award of Merit, known as the Best Foreign Language Film Award, was created for non-English speaking films, and has been given annually since. The Albanian submission is decided by a committee appointed by the Albanian Ministry of Culture. Thirteen Albanian films have been submitted for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but none of them has yet been nominated for an Oscar.

Submissions

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited the film industries of various countries to submit their best film for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film since 1956. The Foreign Language Film Award Committee oversees the process and reviews all the submitted films. Following this, they vote via

secret ballot The secret ballot, also known as the Australian ballot, is a voting method in which a voter's identity in an election or a referendum is anonymous. This forestalls attempts to influence the voter by intimidation, blackmailing, and potential vo ...

to determine the five nominees for the award. The list of the films that have been submitted by Albania for review by the Academy for the award by year and the respective Academy Awards ceremony as follows. Albania's first three films were historical tales set against the backdrop of the

Enver Hoxha Enver Halil Hoxha ( , ; 16 October 190811 April 1985) was an Albanians, Albanian communist politician who was the authoritarian ruler of Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985. He was Secretary (title)#First secretary, First Secretary of t ...

dictatorship A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship a ...

which ruled Albania for over forty years. ''Bunker'' and ''Slogans'' take place in Albania in the late 1970s while ''Sadness'' takes place in 1961

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. ''Colonel Bunker'' is a drama about a soldier tasked by Hoxha to build a network of impossibly elaborate structures ('bunkers') designed to resist a potential foreign invasion. ''Slogans'' is a lighter film satirizing the ideological obsessions of the Hoxha regime, and their suffocating influence over the life of a small, rural school. Both films are among the few Albanian films to win awards at international Film Festivals- ''Bunker'' won an award at

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

and ''Slogans'' was the very first Albanian film to play at Cannes. ''The Sadness of Mrs. Schneider'', a Czech co-production, tells the story of a multi-ethnic group of friends studying cinema in Prague in the 1960s, and their travels around the Czechoslovak countryside. In 2009, the selection committee originally considered three films.Runners-up: ''A Provincial Chronicle'' and ''Lenin and Us''. http://www.albaniasite.net/kultura/gjalle-ne-oscar-skishte-tjeter.html Two of these films were directed by Artan Minarolli. Albania ended up choosing a film set in the post-Communist era for the first time- Minarolli's ''Alive!''- about a modern, young Albanian student who becomes involved with an ancient

blood feud A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one pa ...

after returning to his home village for the funeral of his father. Although, Albania itself has maintained a low profile in this category, four other countries in the region- Greece, Italy, Macedonia and Switzerland- have each submitted films about Albania and the Albanian diaspora to the Oscars.

Notes

References

External links

The Official Academy Awards DatabaseIMDb Academy Awards PageOfficial Site of ''The Sadness of Mrs. Schneider''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Albanian submissions for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award submissions by country

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

Submissions

See also

Notes

References

External links