Interview with Fatmir Koçi, the director of the film “The Rise & Fall of Comrade Zylo”, interviewer Ron Fogel
“It’s a quest for freedom.” - Fatmir Koçi
“The Rise & Fall of Comrade Zylo” is a masterful genre comedy reflecting the dark side of our common history in the East. A look into 1970s Albania, where the society is paralyzed by a dictatorship and its all-consuming propaganda machine. It’s a story about Zylo, a tyrannical bureaucrat in charge of Albania’s top censorship institution, and Demka, a talented writer who’s given the assignment to write an ideological speech.
Fatmir Koçi is a world-renowned Albanian filmmaker and one of the first new directors to emerge in the post-Kinostudio era to give voice to a new Albanian cinema, free of the censorship of the former regime. His feature films include "Nekrologji" (Necrology, 1994), which received a Special Mention at the Montreal Film Festival, and "Tirana Viti Zero" (Tirana Year Zero, 2001), which won the Golden Alexander at the 42nd Thessaloniki Film Festival.
https://poff.ee/en/film/the-rise-fall-of-comrade-zylo/
