Communist Albania's hunger games — bureaucrats vs. black marketeers in a grain war nobody wins.
After the war, the country is plagued by famine. The secretary party committee, Martin Kreka, leads a campaign to gather the grain that is sold in the black market.
Acting
Bujar Lako's Kreka — true believer crumbling from within.
Direction
Gjika's stark compositions mirror state surveillance aesthetics.
Director
Viktor Gjika
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during Albania's Cultural Revolution period, this was state-approved cinema that accidentally critiques state power — a rare tension in Hoxha-era filmmaking.
Director Viktor Gjika shot this in actual 1940s government buildings, lending documentary texture to the fiction. Bujar Lako reportedly fasted partially during filming to capture Kreka's physical deterioration.
AL
