News

Updates from the edit room, festivals and screenings.

October 2026 · Heading into the edit

After more than two years of filming in Albania and the United States, The Silent Country is moving into post-production. We are under contract with Prishtina-based editor Enis Saraçi, who begins shaping 26 hours of survivor testimony and landscape into a feature film this November. Picture lock is planned for March 2027, with a festival premiere to follow later that year.

2026 · Filming complete

We have finished filming. Across Tepelenë, Tirana, Lushnjë, Spaç, Shkodër and New York, we recorded the testimony of survivors who were interned as children, along with the historians and caretakers who keep the camps' memory alive. Thank you to every family who opened their door to us.

May 2026 · Watch the teaser

The first teaser for The Silent Country is out. In two minutes, it follows survivors back to the ruins of Tepelenë, where women and children were interned behind barbed wire. Watch it on our home page.

April 2026 · In memory of Klora Merlika (March 23, 1934 – April 23, 2026)

Klora Merlika entered Tepelenë as a schoolgirl and spent nearly 45 years in internment and exile. She shared her story with us with great courage. Her testimony in The Silent Country is now also her memorial. Our thoughts are with her family.

January 2026 · In memory of Arjan Cela (January 5, 1970 – January 30, 2026)

Arjan Cela spent his life in Tepelenë, beside the ruins of the former internment camp. Over the years he became one of its unofficial caretakers, learning its history from survivors, researchers and journalists, and keeping watch over a place most of the country had forgotten. In The Silent Country, his life on that ground speaks to how memory and everyday life live side by side in Albania. Our thoughts are with his family.