Elbasan 21/10/2018
At breakfast, the omnipresent sound of a drill, echoes in the hotel, ensuring we won’t forget the city’s current state. Today’s Elbasan, makes me think of it as a beautiful, adolescent girl still growing who, looking for what to wear in her wardrobe, she finds nothing but children’s clothing that won’t fit her anymore and has to buy new ones. New buildings are risen all around, new streets are opened, the old ones are being remade. Repair, rebuilt, reconstruct.
Founding the road for development to ride in. Driada’s words come to my mind “…the state builds palaces and not a spirited generation…”. As if he had somehow overheard Driada last night, Geris, during our talk, will take it a bit further by saying “…if you don’t have spirit, why do you need the walls, the buildings…?”. I was glad to hear more from him about “Transition”, the documentary he directed for the Atlas of Transitions project. We talk about his experience during filming, about arts and the future of Elbasan. Talking with a young and passionate filmmaker, who still lives and works in Albania and thinks that dealing with social issues, such as migration, through his art is evidently normal and even more finds it to be inspiring, gives a positive sign to the days to come.
Diana and Adonis, my two hosts, are the last people to interview, at least officially. They share with me their thoughts on the festival’s impact on the local society. Their position is clear. Focus on the underprivileged areas and young people, the citizens of tomorrow. We bid farewell and we renew our appointment for the next Atlas of Transitions activities.
After spending some time at the hotel, organizing the material I have so far, I decide to go for a last short walk. Outside Skampa Theatre, another random encounter. A man listens to me talking on the phone and right after addresses to me in perfect Greek. Alex leaves in Tirana and is here for the festival. He has lived in Athens for 15 years and returned home in 2013, due to the financial crisis. He is a martial arts instructor and, in parallel was working as a builder. He believes that, at this rate, in three years there won’t be left more than one million people in Albania. I ask him why. He says things haven’t changed at their core and this is not an easy thing to do. If the country won’t manage to keep its citizens, they will all go away again looking for a better life.
At the café right next to the theatre, I am talking with Klajdi and Vassilis, actors of Teatri Bylis. Suddenly our conversation is disrupted by a motorized wedding procession. Its volume, physical and sonar alike, attracts all attention and becomes inevitably the centre of attention.
A guy on the first vehicle captures the festive event on camera. A girl in the last vehicle is waving an American flag, a fact I am still trying to figure out… Be that as it may, the fact that the people’s need for expression and sharing still fits in Elbasan’s public space, is making me feel like home and wanting to return to this welcoming and unpredictable place.
In the evening, I am watching the last performance, once again having to activate and enhance my non-intellectual sensors, since the play is in Romanian this time. It is an interesting, quite minimalistic take on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, directed and performed by Teatr Anton Pann. A sole actor on stage, as Hamlet, contemplating on whatever can be troubling for the human psyche. The theatre is not crowded as the previous nights. Deciding not to take my chances in meeting the Romanian ambassador, I head for the hotel.
My last night at the fort. Half a night to be precise. My bus leaves at 4am. I pack my bags and spend the rest of my time in Elbasan, smoking at the balcony, right above the ramparts. The walls. Why do we build these walls…? Why is it so hard for people to try for once bringing down the walls inside, instead of building even bigger ones outside…? Romano said that Albanians have a long history of migration and for that reason they understand the concept of the wall… Yet, I feel that there is a great difference between understanding a wall and actually trying to cross it to survive…
A big thank you to Diana, Adonis and Geris for their hospitality and support. And another one to all of those who gave their time and energy to make this notebook fill with life. so long and see you again down the road.
Spyros
Return to Focus #3 Elbasan: a Home from Home?