Segal Center Film Festival on Theatre and Performance (FTP) 2022 presents
THE RETURN OF KARL MAY (Entertaining play for the German people)
by Blerta Neziraj
Country: Albania | Running Time: 40 | Language: Albanian | Year Of Release: 2020
About THE RETURN OF KARL MAY (Entertaining play for the German people)
In this video- extract performance, Kara Ben Nemsi, the famous protagonist of Karl May’s books – escapes the East and, together with a group of actors, from Kosovo, heads towards the German Lands. In this almost-epic journey, he meets Slavoj Zizek, Peter Handke, a member of Nationalsozialistischer Untergrund and several other characters.
Director: Blerta Neziraj
Text: Jeton Neziraj
Actors: Adrian Morina, Astrit Alihajdari, Ylber Bardhi, Arta Muçaj, Edona Reshitaj, Shpetim Selmani, Armend Smajli
Video filming and editing: Ilir Gjocaj
Translation into English: Alexandra Channer
This video- extract was part of the POSTWEST / Volksbühne Berlin, and was coproduced by Qendra Multimedia (Prishtina), National Theatre of Kosovo and Volksbühne Berlin.
“Return, a co-production with the Volksbühne theatre in Berlin and that began as a joke at the artistic demands of the German company, is a parodic and comical critique on popular German author Karl May’s racist attitudes—his writings are full of clichés and stereotypes of Albanians and Balkan people in general”. Verity Healey, Howlround
“Subtitled ‘an entertaining play for German people’, “The Return of Karl May” opens with the National Theatre of Kosovo dispatching a troupe of actors on a quest to Berlin – the Volksbühne is in trouble and Kosovars are good at conflict resolution, the play jokes – and also to educate a German audience that, in the world of the play, still thinks of the Balkans like the Wild West, lawless and chaotic”. Natasha Tripney, nachtkritik.de.
“What appears as a public faux pas is in context a very well integrated stylistic decision made by Neziraj. Throughout the play, Neziraj stretches the gray zone between political criticism and entertaining cynicism in an assemblage of elaborate scenes and the restaging of the production process itself”. Edona Kryeziu, KOSOVO 2.0.
About Blerta Neziraj
Blerta Neziraj has been directing plays in Kosovo and Internationally, and her performances toured extensively internationally (La MaMa/New York, Vidy/Lausanne, Piccolo Theater/Milano, Volkstheater/Vienna, Volksbhüne/Berlin…). ‘Balkan Bordello’, her last performance, will have its American premiere at La MaMa, New York, in spring 2022. The Guardian named her as “one of the country’s leading directors.”, while The Stage described her shows as “uncompromising… necessary… bold and powerful”.
About The Festival
The Segal Center Film Festival on Theatre and Performance (FTP) is an annual event showcasing films drawn from the world of theatre and performance. The festival presents experimental, emerging, and established theatre artists and filmmakers from around the world to audiences and industry professionals. The 7th annual festival will focus on work for the screen created by theatre artists during the Time of Corona. The festival will be held digitally from March 1st – 15th 2022.
Watch THE RETURN OF KARL MAY (Entertaining play for the German people) from March 1st to March 15th 2022 on the Segal Center Film Festival on Theatre and Performance (FTP) website.
Support this film by Blerta Neziraj by making a direct donation to them at the following details:
Read more about Blerta Neziraj and THE RETURN OF KARL MAY (Entertaining play for the German people) at (https://qendra.org) or get in touch at blerta@qendra.org /
