Two shepherds in
the Albanian mountains, Arif, a Muslim, and Anastas, an orthodox Christian,
have been friends for years in spite of religious barriers. Their profound
friendship is constantly strengthened by the local music-making, a unique
choral polyphony. In 2005, UNESCO proclaimed this vocal tradition a Masterpiece
of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
The film sets up
unforgettable images for severe poetry, harsh fates and almost magical power of
human voice, which helps people in the mountains to master their surreal daily
routine at a contradictory stage of post-socialist change. On another level, the
film gives an example of how music – even in the Balkans’ complexity – can
build bridges between people and religions.
A documentary film by Eckehard
Pistrick and Björn Reinhardt. Eckehard Pistrick (b. 1980) is a German
ethnomusicologist currently working in Halle and Paris. He conducted
fieldworks in Cambodia, Bali, Greece and Albania and is the co-editor of
Audiovisual Media and Identity Issues in Southeastern Europe, Cambridge
Scholars Publishers, 2011. Björn Reinhardt (b. 1963 in Germany) worked as a
stage designer and documentarian before immigrating to Romania in 2002. For the
last 10 years he has been making internationally appraised documentaries mainly
in the Maramureș region, which is situated on the northeastern Carpathians, but
also in Crete, Northern Greece, Albania, and elsewhere. Since 2007 he has also
been working as a photographer.
Running
time: 85 min. In Albanian with English subtitles.
The screening
will take place at SRH on Sunday (sic!)
November 16, at 1-3pm.
Silk Road House,
1944 University Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705 (between Milvia & Martin Luther
King; enter by side door); e-mail: <silkroadhouse@yahoo.com>;
website: <www.silkroadhouse.org>;
facebook page: <https://www.facebook.com/SilkRoadHouse>.
Silk Road House
events are sponsored by the Silkroad Foundation.
