SYNOPSIS A place of dictatorial isolationists and trigger-happy masses, archaic family structures and trans-generational family feuds: to this day, thanks to decades of anti-communist propaganda and mass media sensationalism, Albania is still regarded as backwards and dangerous. This oversimplified prejudice stands in contrast with a reality a thousand times more complex. It’s a place of extraordinary paradoxes, where an exhilaratingly beautiful, unspoiled countryside, plentiful resources, the peaceful coexistence of religions and a largely organic farming method are juxtaposed with inadequate waste disposal and water purification systems, architectural eyesores and the political extravagances of old and new power cliques. SHQIPËRIA – NOTES FROM ALBANIA offers a flow of stories from and about Albania, displaying the country in its true diversity, unspeculatively illuminating its conflicts and discovering this blank spot on the map of Europe in all its contradictions.