THE FORGIVENESS OF BLOOD (2011) screened at SFF 2011 in the Open Air cinema. Director Joshua Marston and his main cast Tristan Halilaj and Sindi Laçej appeared at the festival to attend press conferences, talent campus labs and Q and A's after screenings of their film.

The very much talked about and gripping film, The Forgiveness of Blood, by American director and pioneering arthouse/foreign film advocate (director of Maria Full of Grace, 2004), opened at the 2011 Berlinale Film Festival. FORGIVENESS OF BLOOD is wowing audiences everywhere and showing the world a glimpse into the realities of contemporary Albania as it races forward with dizzying globalization and yet continues to cling onto its past with dear life.

Film summary by SFF official site: 'Nik is an energetic 17-year-old in his last year of high school in Northern Albania. He is embarking on his first romance with a girl in his class and plans to open his own internet café after graduation. His sister, Rudina, is a bright, mature fifteen-year-old who aspires to go to college. When a local land dispute results in their father Mark being accused of murder, the family is drawn into a deadly blood feud. The rules of the Kanun, a centuries-old Balkan code of law, force Nik, his 7 year old brother and the other male members of his family into virtual house arrest.'

read more about the film here: http://www.sff.ba/film/show/id/1466

photo by Vanessa McMahon 

Albanian actors from the film Tristan Halilaj (left), Sindi Laçej (right) and in the middle, Albanian's treasured film composer Aldo Shllaku.