Red Poppies on Walls


Red Poppies on Walls is a 1977 Albanian drama film directed by Dhimitër Anagnosti and co-written by Anagnosti and Petraq Qafëzezi. The film is an adaptation of Qafëzezi's book The Orphans.

Plot

At the time of the outbreak of World War II, orphans in an orphanage in Tirana, under Italian occupation, are forced to clean anti-fascist slogans off of walls. Four orphan friends, Jaçja, Lelua, Bardhi and Tomi, one of whom had a connection with the young anti-fascist Aliu, in protest against the invaders begin to secretly organize plans against some hated collaborators, who were known as servants and spies of the Italian fascists. Two of them, who were also targeted by the illegal communists, were the director of the orphanage and its caretaker.

Cast

Production

The Kinostudio produced a film adaption of Petraq Qafëzezi's novel Bonjakët. Red Poppies on Walls was directed by Dhimitër Anagnosti and co-written by Anagnost and Qafëzezi. Marika Villa edited the film and Kujtim Laro composed the music. Filming was done in Tirana. The 1970s was a period of Albanian cinema in which the depiction of Italians and Fascist Italy's control of Albania were common.

Release

Red Poppies on Walls premiered in Tirana, on 9 January 1977. It was shown at the Albania, Si Gera film festival held in Rome from 4–7 April 2019. A 4K resolution restoration of the film was done by Dabimus SRL with financial support from the Association of European Cinematheques and released in 2023.

Reception

The Association of European Cinematheques reported that Red Poppies on Walls "remains one of the country's most celebrated films".

Works cited

Journals

*

News

*

Web

*