Arben Papadhopulli of the Albanian National Center of Cinematography told FNE that the proposal for a Balkan coproduction fund is at the “handshake” stage, with plans to take it to an official level. The fund would include the former Yugoslav territories, Bulgaria, Greece and Italy. “Each country would contribute to the fund,” Papadhopulli told FNE, at a modest level of perhaps 30,000 EUR.

The forum would be more of a networking platform for the Balkan region and Italy, which is becoming an important coproduction partner for its neighbors across the Adriatic. The two initiatives would operate under one umbrella.

Once Europe’s most isolated country, Albania has become an active coproduction partner in the Balkan and CEE territory, working with Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Poland and the Czech Republic, among other countries.