Turner Classical Movies, the American television channel which in its programming includes only the best classical films created up to the beginning of the 80s, will for the first time broadcast an Albanian film, one of the most popular and watched director Xhanfise Keko and Albanian cinema, “Tomka and his friends”.

The programming of this film on TCM places the author Xhanfise Keko among the best in the history of cinema, paving the way for bringing other Keko’s production  to the world audience.

The selection that this television channel has made of the film “Tomka and his friends” is the logical course of the journey that the film has made during the last six years since its restoration by the American Library of Congress in Washington in cooperation with ACP, initially premiering at the British Film Institute and Lincoln Center, continuing with a lengthy 11-city UK tour as part of the ‘Cinema of Childhood’ programme, and then special tributes dedicated to director Xhanfise Keko by Danish Film Institute in 2018 and the Vienna Film Museum in 2019, making her the most appreciated author in the history of Albanian cinema.

The movie speaks about Tomka and his gang, who decide to exact revenge when the German soldiers set up camp on their football pitch.  Keko had established herself as one of the top directors in Albania’s male-dominated film industry. Keko filled Tomka, the main character with many stylistic devices that would have been discouraged for higher-profile filmmakers toiling in the system. 

The showing of the film “Tomka and his friends” by the American television channel TCM is very good news not only for the author of this film, the director Xhanfise Keko, but also for the Albanian cinema itself. 

/Klara Ruci/