Despite the fact that many people in my country (Turkey), including myself, have relatives who have married people of Albanian origin, that Albania is not very far from my country, and that there are many common words between Albanian and Turkish, I should be inclined towards Albanian art and literature, but I have no idea about it... The internet and technology should be removing borders and bringing us closer together, but it has made us all Anglo-Saxon. This is very sad.
Abbas Kiarostami is as important to Iranian cinema as Xhanfise Keko is to Albanian cinema. Of course, Keko comes before Kiarostami because of her age.
The film, an elegy dedicated to the resistance of communist partisans against fascists and Nazis in World War II, was produced by the "Shqipëria e Re" film studio and is a very important film in Albania. Xhanfise Keko, the country's only female director, often referred to as "Aunt Keko", has produced a number of youth films that are very popular in Albania. After Tomka, Keko made two more films centered on children: Pas gjurmëve (1978) and Partizani i vogël Velo (1980). She later worked with Enea Zhegu, who passed away two years ago.
The music, composed by Aleksandër Lalo, was played by the Radio Televizioni Shqiptar Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Ferdinand Deda, and in two scenes the children sing these songs, which were quite impressive scenes anyway.
Long story short; there are cinemas other than EU and US cinemas, and they contain magnificent treasures like this film.
By the way; I am sad to say that the version of the film that was restored in the US in 2012 and is available on YouTube is 7 minutes short...
