THE MOVING PICTURE BOY ARCHIVE

TOMKA DHE SHOKËT E TIJ

Title: Tomka dhe shokët e tij
English translation of title: Tomka and His Friends
Year of release: 1977
Director: Xhanfise Keko
Country of Production: Albania 
Genre: War drama
Length: 1 hr 18 min
Language: Albanian
Availability: The digital restoration of this film by the Albanian Cinema Project was completed in 2015. English and French subtitles were also produced as part of the restoration project. The first phase of the digital restoration toured the UK in 2014 (see link to the London Premier below), and was also screened at the 2014 Tirana International Film Festival. The film can also be viewed, with English subtitles, on Youtube here.

Below: Principal boy actors, l-r, Enea Zhegu as Tomka, Genci Mosho as Gëzim, Herion Mustafaraj as Vaska, and Artan Puto as Çelo. A year earlier, Enea Zhegu had an important role in the film Lulëkuqet mbi mure / Poppies on the Wall.

Synopsis
A group of young boys in the town of Berat around 1943 find that their football field is appropriated by the invading Nazi forces, and help the partisans to defeat the occupying German army.

Further Information and links
Gëzim's Song from the film can be viewed on Youtube here.
The main theme music from the film, composed by Aleksandër Lalo, can be listened to on Youtube here.
A brief comment on the film by writer and film director Mark Cousins can be viewed on Youtube here.
The BFI Restored Film Premier in London which took place in 2014, can be viewed here. It includes an interview with Herion Mustafaraj, who was Vaska in the film.

Below: Publicity photo

Below: Two photos of a mural in Tirana by artist Toni Sulo entitled 'The Three Boys Behind Barbed Wire', after the above publicity photo.

  

Below: production photo. The woman on the right is director Xhanfise Keko.

Screenshots