PRODUCTIONS: THE HEROES OF THE ZADRIMA

DIRECTOR

PRODUCER

DURATION

VERSIONS

FORMAT

Luigi Cammarota

SD Cinematografica

45 min.

HD

In the heart of Mediterranean Europe, a few miles from our coasts, there is a beautiful valley in the north of a country we know little about, Albania. What little we know often is negative. Beyond the crime news there is also the image of difficult people. Hard men, austere women. Perhaps it is a bit true, but under the rough skin there is an ancient, hospitable and generous people. Zadrima is the name of a fertile plain, surrounded by mountains, kissed by the sun and irrigated by rivers. A region of ancient traditions, evidenced by the remains of castles and monasteries, and at the same time also by the most authentic peasant culture that still survives today. First with the forced modernization imposed by the regime, then with the savage anarchy of regained freedom, Zadrima risked losing its identity. The community was upset by the chaos, many had fled to Italy, Greece, Germany. But the attachment to his origins remained intact together with the love for the land and its fruits, even during the long winter of the dictatorship. Someone said: "Sooner or later, all battlefields become resorts". The cold war concrete bunkers have become planters, or ovens for baking bread and pizza, Altin has enhanced them, instead of demolishing them. Here where there was a regime prison there is now its restaurant, a place of excellence where you have to book well in advance. Excellent is that it only prepares the classic foods of the local tradition, with ingredients that it seeks and enhances among the small producers around it.
Age, a strong and sweet woman, is our "genius loci", she struggled all her life but is still impeccable and smiling in her traditional black and white dress.
And then there are Yak, Zef, Kol. Together with them we will discover the treasures of this land such as the "byrek" the savory pie, the "pekmes" from the mulberries, the white corn bread, the prized "Kalmet" wine, also chosen by the Pope.