A sketch of memories

A Four-Handed Visual Ethnography of an Albanian Village. 

A collaborative visual ethnography of a village in southwest Albania, Skicë Kujtimesh (A sketch of memories) is a short film that integrates the poetry of an artistic approach with the raw material of raw observation. Based on audiovisual documentation collected during a field expedition (one week, June 2024) to the coastal village of Lukova, this collaboration records personal and family stories told by women who were both actors and witnesses of the political, social and cultural changes in Southeast Europe during the second half of the 20th century. This nuanced exploration of feminine family narratives, with its global approach that articulates the heterographies of ethnographic engagement and artistic gesture, aims to contribute to wider discussions on the role of memory, identity and narrative in understanding social and cultural transformations in Mediterranean worlds.

Credits
This short ethnographic film was produced during a scientific expedition organized as part of the International Summer School in Social and Cultural Anthropology (ISSSCA) by the Centre for Research in Social and Cultural Anthropology (QSASK) in collaboration with Heinrich Böll Stiftung, Tirana Office, University of Regensburg, and LMU Munich.

Interviews conducted by Oriane Girard and Anxhela Pipero with Artemis Boçi, Areti Çuni, Xheni Boçi, and Valentina Boçi.
Direction, narration, and editing: Oriane Girard and Anxhela Pipero
Music: Nikolas Pipero

The directors would like to express their heartfelt gratitude to everyone who made this film possible — for their kindness, guidance, and trust — as well as to the residents of Lukovë whom they met along the way.

Lukovë, 2024