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Screening of the Czech-Albanian film ”Sorrow of Ms Schneider”

On 24 February 2009, the Czech Embassy in Copenhagen arranged the screening of Czech Albanian film “Sorrow of Ms Schneider” by the Albanian film director Piro Milkani.

The main guests of the evening. From the left side: the director Piro Milkani, the producer Jana Tomsová, the Albanian Ambassador Aferdita Dalla and Czech Ambassador Zdeněk Lyčka.

The film was the historically first Czech‑Albanian film co-production and had premiere in both countries in 2008. The Czech Embassy in Copenhagen arranged the screening as part of the cultural program of the Czech Presidency in the EU Council, CZ PRES, in connection with the upcoming integration of Albania in NATO and its approximation to EU, with emphasis on one of the priorities of the Czech Presidency: the relations between EU and West Balkan Countries. The Czech Ambassador Zdeněk Lyčka gave a welcome speech and introduced the main guests of the evening - director Piro Milkani and the producer of the film, Jana Tomsová.

A glass of wine and tasting of Albanian specialties followed after the film screening. Discussion with the director and the producer about the recording of the film and about director´s experiences after the forced return from Czechoslovakia in the 1960´s, where he was studying at the Film Academy, to Albania, a country isolated from the rest of Europe. Piro Milkani is a renowned Albanian director, screenwriter and cameraman. He has recorded 25 feature films and dozens of documentaries. In the period 1998-2002 he worked as the Albanian ambassador to the Czech Republic and to Slovakia.

Piro Milkani and Jana Tomsová with diplomats. From the left side: the Slovakian Ambassador Lubomír Golian, the director Piro Milkani, the producer Jana Tomsová, the Austrian Ambassador Erwin Kubesch, the Moroccan Ambassador Raja Ghannam, the Czech Ambassador Zdeněk Lyčka and the Albanian Ambassador Aferdita Dalla.

The director, the producer, the Czech ambassador, the Albanian ambassador and other guests gave interviews to the present Albanian journalists. Furthermore, ambassadors, chargé d´affaires and other diplomats from Central European, Balkan and North African countries, representatives from the Danish film industry and the Czech and Albanian communities in Denmark, altogether about 50 persons, attended the evening.

Director Piro Milkani with Czech expatriots and students