Daybreak, the remarkably confident and at times reminiscent of the Dardenne Brothers debut feature by Albanian director Gentian Koçi, explores with subtlety the struggle of a woman
(Ornela Kapetani) with her baby son
to survive at all costs in contemporary Albania. The film had its world premiere at the 23rd Sarajevo Film Festival,
where Ornela Kapetani deservedly
received the Best Actress award. We sat down with Gentian Koçi
shortly after the press screening of
his film.
Why did you choose to focus on
a female character, to start with? What was so intriguing about that?
It was more of a spontaneous, intuitive choice. Now
that I think of it, it could also have been a male character. Having finished
the film, I keep asking myself “How can a
father with a young son react in situations like these?” It would have been
an interesting story, if it was based on a male character, but a different one.
In social terms, of course, the struggle of a woman to survive is much more
complicated and difficult. Maybe this is one of the reasons why I chose a female
character.
It’s much more difficult for a
woman to achieve her goals, as well.
The obstacles are numerous and much bigger, according
to my point view, comparing to those faced by men. But the male character would
have been transformed in a totally different story with a different narrative
style.
Was, then, the narrative style
influenced by the choice of your lead actress, Ornela Kapetani? Did she
contribute to the formation of her own character?
First of all, I finished the script and then started looking
for actresses. I conducted a lot of auditions and interviews, but, when I saw
Ornela Kapetani for the first time, I was almost convinced that she was the one
for Leta’s character. She also liked the script a lot, and then we had to work
together, because incarnating this character was a very difficult process. We
worked up to six-seven months before shooting. We had to be very careful,
because her character needed to be built within a specific social context, as
well as bear some psychological signs. We really had to keep her at a
borderline between the social and the psychological.
She’s a person determined to
survive at all costs. What is particularly intriguing in your narrative
approach is that there are things which one must guess that happen, either
outside the frame or inside her psyche.
In my communication with the audience I put enormous
value to what is outside the frame.
Still, Daybreak is a film firmly placed within the context of the
contemporary Albanian society. How influenced are you from it as both a
director and someone living inside it?
My approach to the film is from a universal perspective,
which means that it doesn’t only refer to the Albanian society. What makes it
universal, in terms of communicating with larger audiences, is the fact that it
deals with the inner human struggle. Of course I got the idea from where I
live, my daily observation, my interrelation with people in Albania; their
portraits in the streets, the way they react or behave. It is inspired by the
everyday life. There is also a political statement in this film, because I
wanted to give the feeling of oppression coming from above and, since the
people have no other alternative, they somehow start to fight against each
other. It’s a statement about a system pressing with much persistence on the Albanian
people.
With regard to the Albanian
cinema, not many films are being made or screened at festivals or commercially
worldwide. I assume, therefore, that your effort, too, must have been quite
hard to materialize. Is that so?
It’s much more difficult for Albanian films to have an
international visibility, because the production is low. However, we have a
very rich cinematic history, but very few people internationally know this
treasure, since we were completely isolated for 45 years. This makes our work,
my work, more difficult, because it is as if the Albanian filmmakers come up
with a very low symbolic capital and hard work is required, so that they are
visible. It’s also very difficult for Albanian films to have their world
premieres at very important European festivals.
I have to say, though, that even if we haven’t
produced so many films, since 1990 we have very good works by Albanian
filmmakers, who have had the opportunity to share them with international
audiences.
I guess that the co-production
element, the co-operation with Graal Films, helped in the completion of the
film.
The co-production process with Graal Films was very
important for the completion of this project. They read the script, they liked
it a lot and, ever since, we were on the same “boat”. The only “condition” was
that they, too, wanted the film to be completed. Then, Graal could raise some
money from the Greek Film Centre, so I had the chance to have part of my
artistic group from Greece, for example the DoP, Ilias Adamis. All the post
production services were carried out in Greece.
Is this your second time in
Sarajevo?
This is my second time in the city as a film director.
The first was 3 years ago within the framework of the CineLink Co-Production Market.
We were selected among 14 other projects for development and financing.
How does it feel being here?
Being part of the Competition or this Festival, in
general, feels very good and somehow important. And the organizers of it are
very welcoming and friendly people. The atmosphere of the city during these
days feels really familiar. So, I’m indeed happy to present my work in Sarajevo.
Let’s hope that Daybreak will manage to travel as far
and wide as possible! Are there plans for further festival screenings?
I cannot announce the confirmations publicly,
because they are not official yet. At the same time, our film production
company tries very hard to promote it to more festivals.
I would like to warmly
thank Gentian
Koçi for his time and Blerina Hankollari, his wife and business partner, for her valuable contribution to the interpretation of his responses in English.
