The 7th Edition of the Euro Balkan Film Festival, currently held across Rome’s venues—Casa del Cinema, MAXXI, and Nuovo Cinema Aquila—runs until November 12, celebrating Balkan cinema and fostering Italian-Balkan production collaboration.

This year’s festival pays tribute to the late Ismail Kadare, Albania’s most revered author, by awarding him a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award for Cultural Cooperation. This honor, presented by the festival’s organizer, Ambassador Mario Bova of the Occhio Blu Association, recognizes Kadare’s invaluable contributions to Italian-Balkan and European cultural relations. Helena Kadare, his wife, will accept the award on his behalf.

Following the ceremony, the festival will screen Luciano Tovoli’s 1983 film The General of the Dead Army, based on Kadare’s celebrated novel. The screening will be preceded by an in-depth panel discussion on Kadare’s literary legacy, featuring scholars Francesco Altimari and Matteo Mandalà, along with writer Diana Çuli and director Luciano Tovoli.

Additionally, ten films by emerging directors, showcasing new cinematic voices, will compete in the festival. Notably, Macedonian director Kumjana Novakova will present her documentary, The Silence of Reason, which examines the brutal realities of the Bosnian War (1992-95) and the tragic events in the Bosnian village of Foča, known as the “rape camp.”

Films outside of competition will open dialogues between Balkan and Italian histories, addressing themes like the Balkan Wars and historical memory.

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