Two Lions to Venice
Two Lions to Venice is a 2021 Albanian comedy drama film directed and written by Jonid Jorgji. It was Albania's submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards, but it was not one of the finalists.
Plot
Kaci and Vani, two old Albanian filmmakers, are on their way to the Venice Film Festival, where Vani is set to give a speech. On the way they meet Lola and Irina, two porn stars that are dressed as nuns. Vani meets his daughter in Italy and learns that she is a porn actress after thinking that she was at college.Cast
- Natalia De Maria as Lola
- Kastriot Çaushi as Kaçi
- Vasjan Lami as Vani
- Alessandra Bonarotta as Ginevra
Production
Produced by companies from Albania, Italy, United Kingdom, Greece, and the Czech Republic, Two Lions to Venice was written and directed by Jonid Jorgji. The film was dedicated to Jorgji's mentor Gjergj Xhuvani, who died in 2019. Financial support was provided by Qendra Kinematografike e Kosovës.Filming took place over the course of 20 days in Albania and Venice. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, scenes that were meant to be shot in Italy were instead shot outside of Tirana. The cinematography was done by Petros Antoniadis.