Cinema in the ‘local perfect position’: children and education in the documentary work of Xhanfise Keko

Abstract

Xhanfise Keko, the sole woman director of communist Albania, has recently been discovered by the international academic and critical community, and her films are, for the first time, reaching global audiences. To date, such recognition has focused on her fiction films made between 1972 and 1985, which were most noted for the director’s subtle work with child actors. Often deemed a director of children’s films, Keko managed to work safely within the system, yet transcend its confines. Situating her non-fiction work within the historical context of the Albanian documentary, this article will explore her career as a documentarian and director of newsreels from the time of her studies in Moscow in the early 1950s through 1971, prior to her emergence as a director of fiction films. Its approach to her work will be mediated in part by a 2017 documentary by Mevlan Shanaj, Koha e pelikulës: Xhanfise Keko/Xhanfise Keko: A Woman Director in the Time of Celluloid, a work that reveals the importance of Keko, not only for contemporary Albania, but also for today’s international audiences. Keko’s documentaries comprise vivid depictions of what was arguably the most closed society of the 20th century. Although highly conventional in structure and thematics, they are clear forerunners of the innovative ways in which she fought for authenticity in her fiction films. Keko’s quest as an artist was to learn more about her craft and the children whom she depicted and with whom she worked.