The film “Alexander” by director Ardit Sadiku, who will represent Albania in the Oscar competition, premiered at the Cineplexx cinema in Tirana before an audience of filmmakers and cultural journalists.

The film is the testimony of a tragic event, which happened while the communist regime was in its last throes. The film’s protagonist, Aleksandër Gruda, a naval ship mechanic, recounts escaping from communist Albania together with his family and friends, a total of 18 people who hijacked a warship, in Shkodra Lake.

But their path to freedom was not easy. At the end of this adventure, Alexander found himself at the crossroads of life: to rejoice in his freedom or to grieve over the loss of his only daughter in the attempt to escape.

Director Ardit Sadiku shot the narratives of this story about extreme efforts in search of freedom on three continents: in North America, Europe and Australia, where the protagonists of the event live.

/k.s/