Albania:Programme Notes.Qxd

The Second November (Nëntori i Dytë) Albania | 1982 | 79 minutes Credits In Brief Director Viktor Gjika The Second November (Nëntori i Dytë) relates the events leading up to the proclamation Screenplay Dhimitër Shuteriqi, of Albania's independence in 1912. The patriots include Ismail Qemali, who would become Kiço Blushi Albania's first Prime Minister, Luigj Gurakuqi, the independent country's first Minister of Education, and the Kosovar hero Isa Boletini. After many setbacks and adventures, they Photography Lionel Konomi succeed in raising the Albanian flag (its eagle embroidered by Marigo Posio), in the city of Music Kujtim Laro Vlora, on the 28th of November 1912. Cast EFG screens this film in a stunning Colorlab restoration, made possible by the Albanian Film Archive and the Albanian Cinema Project. The restoration was premiered in Tirana in Ismail Qemali Sandër Prosi November 2012, the centenary of independence. Marigo Posio Rozalina Bedo Isa Boletini Reshat Arbana Coachman Robert Ndrenika In the 1980s, when The Second November was made, Albania did not have the right chemicals to produce accurate projection prints. It was not until November 2012, the centenary of the events depicted in the film, that it was seen for the first time as its creators had intended, in a restoration by Colorlab from the original 35mm camera negatives and optical sound elements. The English subtitles were done by a team of four translators in Tirana and coordinated in the U.S. by the Albanian Ambassador and his staff at the embassy in Washington, DC. Colorlab created a separate negative, with just the subtitles, which was synched with the newly struck image and sound elements. The premiere screening of the restored film in Tirana was attended by the original cinematographer, Lionel Konomi, by the actor Robert Ndrenika, who played Ismail Qemali's coachman in the film (and will be seen again in other films in this mini-season) and by many others who had had been involved in the original making of the film. Its director, Viktor Gjika, died in 2009. The History of Albania's Independence The First Balkan War started on 8 October 1912 when Montenegro attacked northern Albania, which was still part of the Ottoman Empire. The other Balkan countries immediately joined in, the Ottoman army crumbled and Albania found Original film poster, restored by AQShF 1 itself invaded from all sides. Practically abandoned by their Ottoman rulers, the Albanians realised that if they did not obtain independence their territory would be swallowed up by their Balkan neighbours. Meanwhile, Austria-Hungary had become concerned that Greek, Serb and Italian designs on Albania would reduce its own influence in the Balkans – its southern backyard. Ismail Qemali, who had been one of the 26 Albanians elected to the Istanbul parliament, after the Young Turk revolution of 1908, travelled to Vienna and Budapest to obtain diplomatic support for Albanian independence. By the time the war began, much of Albania was already up in arms and Albanian soldiers were deserting the Ottoman army, although others fought bravely with the Ottoman forces against the Montenegrins. Rebels led by the Kosovar Isa Boletini occupied Skopje, took control of Kosova, and captured large tracts of what is now Albanian territory. When Ismail Qemali returned from his diplomatic tour, he learned that Serbian troops were approaching the Adriatic. Northern Albania was being invaded by the Balkan League and the Greek navy was attacking in the south. He made his way across the treacherous marshes (now long since drained) of the Myzeqeja plain, to the relative safety of Vlora. [Ismail Qemali's coachman, Hakiu, who brings him across the treacherous marshes to Vlora, is played in the film by Robert Ndrenika, whom we will see again, later in this mini- season, in Concert in 1936 and Tale from the Past.] It was thus that on 28 November 1912, Albanian Sandër Prosi as Ismail Qemali independence was proclaimed in Vlora and Skanderbeg’s ancient emblem, the double-headed black Albanian Cinema eagle, was raised at the spot which is now called Flag Square. Albania’s first government, led by Ismail Qemali, set up its headquarters in the only building available, the former quarantine hospital in the port. This modestly sized villa is now the Museum of Independence. The building where the flag was first raised was badly damaged while the city was being bombarded by Greece in December 1912, and it was knocked down in 1932. The area cleared by this demolition has been kept as a large open space and is called Flag Square, or Independence Square. To the side of the square, near where the demolished house once stood, the Albanian flag flies from a small column, and beside it is the Independence Monument, an imposing bronze cast in the Socialist Realist style. Around its base stand various key figures in the independence movement, including Ismail Qemali and Isa Boletini; above them, on a rock, a flag-bearer makes ready to hoist the double-headed eagle of Albania. Vlora’s football team is called Flamurtari ('The Flag-Bearer') in honour of the anonymous patriot who first raised the flag of independence. Ismail Qemali himself is buried in the park behind the Independence Monument. Marigo Posio was born in 1878 and brought up in Korça, where she married and became involved in the nationalist movement. She and her husband attracted the attention of the Ottoman authorities, and moved to Vlora to shake them off. When the Labëria Patriotic Club was founded in 1908, Marigo Posio taught Albanian literacy at the night school there, under the outward guise of giving embroidery classes. Her real contribution to the art of embroidery was the double- headed eagle on the flag which was raised in Vlora on 28 November 1912 – a painting of her embroidering the Albanian flag hangs at the top of the stairs in the Museum of Independence. The original flag was handed down by Ismail Qemali to one of his many sons, and is now lost. Marigo Posio died in 1932 and was buried between two olive trees on the monastery-island of Zvërneci. Rozalina Bedo as Marigo Posio From Albania: the Bradt Travel Guide © Gillian Gloyer filmedinburgh guild Albanian Cinema.

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