by Gjergj Xhuvani
In Albania in the 80s, during the dictatorship, one of the most commonly used methods of propaganda was to write political slogans with stones on the sides of hills and mountains, and on any surface visible to passers-by.
This film, drawn from experience, recounts the story of a young schoolteacher full of dreams and hopes, who comes to an isolated village in the mountains to take up his new teaching position.
He is soon immersed in the atmosphere that regulates the whole life of the village and principally the construction and the maintenance of the stone slogans written on the mountainsides by the schoolchildren.
Although the moments of freedom occasioned by the writing of these slogans enable the people to communicate, to enjoy life, and to court, they also provide them with opportunities to spy on one another.
Confronted with such an implacably alienating system in his everyday life, the young schoolteacher soon succumbs.
Gjergj Xhuvani was born in 1963, in Tirana in Albania. In 1986 he graduated from the Arts Academy (majoring in the dramatic arts) in Tirana.From 1986 to 1990 he worked as an assistant director on many films and in 1991 directed his first short film "Blanc et noir".The author of scenarios of animation films, he also published two novels "The Boat of the Poor" and "Up to 12 O’clock". "Slogan" is his second feature film.
Director’s point of view
Slogans, “is the absurdity of the period. It was absurd, that is why the film is sometimes tragic, sometimes comic. Comedy and tragedy mix together - I believe that there are two types of reality in movies, "real" reality and artistic reality. I wanted to work with "real" reality. I didn’t expressly seek out to make an absurd film or a comic film. I only tried to make a realistic film. The different elements like humor, absurdity, pain, sadness - they appear still more pronounced and touching because they are taken from reality...
...The human side of the film comes from reality. The people really believed in these dogmes. That’s why we feel their pain. My goal wasn’t to condemn this system, but more to provide testimony to a period which we should remember.”
Production:
LES FILMS DES TOURNELLES
Anne-Dominique Toussaint, Pascal Judelewicz
10, rue Sainte Anastase
75003 Paris (France)
Telephone: +33 (0) 1 42 77 62 34
Fax: +33 (0) 1 42 77 76 70
E-mail: tournelles@tournelles.com
Web Site: http://www.tournelles.com
Coproduction:
ALBANIAN GENERAL VISION
Arben Tasellari
RR. Vaso Pasha 13/1
Tirana (Albania)
Telephone: 00 355 423 59 41
Fax: 00 355 423 59 41
E-mail: bentasellari@hotmail.com
ROISSY FILMS
Raphaël Berdugo
58, rue Pierre Charron
75008 Paris (France)
Telephone: +33(0)1 53 53 50 58
Fax: +33(0) 1 42 89 26 93
E-mail: rberdugo@roissyfilms.com
Web Site: http://www.roissyfilms.com
LES FILMS EN HIVER
Franck Landron
36, bd de la Bastille
75012 Paris (France)
Telephone: +33 (0) 1 43 07 18 42
Fax: +33 (0) 1 40 19 09 79
E-mail: info@les-films-en-hiver.com
Web Site: http://www.les-films-en-hiver.com
With the participation of:
FONDS SUD CINEMA (ministère des Affaires étrangères et Centre National de la Cinématographie-France), Centre National du Cinéma Albanais (Albania), Association THECIF (Théâtre-Cinéma) - REGION ILE DE FRANCE
International Sales:
CELLULOÏD DREAMS
Hengameh Panahi
24, rue Lamartine
75009 Paris (France)
Telephone: +33 (0) 1 49 70 03 70
Fax: +33 (0) 1 49 70 03 71
E-mail: info@celluloid-dreams.com
Web Site: http://www.celluloid-dreams.com
Rights Holders:
Les Films des Tournelles, Albanian General Vision, Roissy Films, Les Films en Hiver.
Distributor France:
LES FILMS DES TOURNELLES DISTRIBUTION
Anne-Dominique Toussaint, Pascal Judelewicz
10, rue Sainte Anastase
75003 Paris (France)
Telephone: +33 (0) 1 42 77 62 34
Fax: +33 (0) 1 42 77 76 70
E-mail: tournelles@tournelles.com
Web Site: http://www.tournelles.com
Press and Promotion:
Richard Lormond (ventes étranger)
Telephone: +33 (0) 6 09 49 79 25
Viviana Andriani (ventes France)
Telephone: +33 (0) 6 80 16 81 39
Festivals:
La Quinzaine des Réalisateurs - Cannes 2001
Prix de la jeunesse - Cannes 2001
Print version