Serafin Fanko (1937-2007), The Scene Art Icon!

Serafin Fanko (1937-2007)
“Time is not cursed, because we create it ourselves”
“People’s artist” is the fourth director in the theater “Migjeni” in Shkodra.

Born on 24.05.1937 in Shkodra and passed away on 29.09.2007. In Tirana, he spent a tragic childhood. In the years 1946 – 1948, Serafini together with a sister have a “shelter” in the Orphanage. After a few years, the grandmother takes them and he will live with her.

From an early age, the first stars of a future artist shine in Serafini. This is the reason that, during the years of the “Pioneer House activity, it became active in the circles of theater, painting, dancing, singing, etc. In his memoirs, the actor Ndrekë Prela (at that time an instructor of the theater circle) would say: “Serafini stood out above the others. In him I saw a boy with a perspective for our scene”.

Serafini also spent his youth in Shkodër. In 1951, he was a dancer in the “Army Ensemble”, where he stayed for two years. For economic reasons he returns to Shkodër. In his hometown, he first works as a writer in: “Fermentim”, “NISH – Lëkura”, “NSHRAK” companies, etc.

Later we see him in charge of culture in the “Officers’ House”. Here, he writes and stages an operetta with amateurs. Meanwhile, the first editions of authorial poems in the newspaper “Zëri i rinise” began.

1954, he works as a ballet instructor at the youth club “Heronjte e Vigut”, put on the stage of the “Migjeni” theater in Shkodra, they will be a bright part of its history, leaving an indelible mark on Albanian art.

The year 1959, Serafini graduates from the “Jordan Misja” Artistic High School , the high school for drama opens, after undergoing the competition, he wins the competition for studies abroad and returns after two years he spends his third and fourth year, again, at the High Institute of Arts.

In the pages of Serafini’s personal archive, we find among many others a photograph where the great artist Naim Frashëri leaves this dedication: “Becoming an artist is not it is difficult, it is enough to have… talent and will. You have both, that’s why you boldly make your way forward.” Your colleague, Naimi.

After finishing high school, he was appointed an actor in the theater “Migjeni*” in Shkodra. In 1966, he went for specialization (filmmaking) in Tirana. During this time, he also worked as an acting teacher in the first course.

He comes to Shkodër again. Staged the play “S’ndalet lumi me gardh” (You cannot stop the river with fence) as a trial play, while he defended his degree with the drama “Fisheku ne pajë” by the author Fadil Kraja.

For Serafini, first as an actor and later as a director, a full artistic journey begins He started performing roles that were often different and opposite characters. Thus, he performed: Rodrik in “Histori Irkutase”, Ahmet in “Shtatë Shaljanët”, Gjoni in “Përkolgjinajt”. “, Migjeni to “Migjeni”, Zeku to “Nora e Këlmendi”, Artur to °Zekthi”, etc.

The realization of these types and characters were illuminated by the light of talent of the talented actor Serafin Fanko, from one performance to another, his portrait of the artist takes on dimension. If we stop at the television drama “Zekthi”, staged in 1964. According to the statistics of the theater archive: it was performed 28 times, 13 times it was played by the director Oktrova himself, 10 times by Serafini and 5 times by the actor Viktor Bruceti. In this drama, Serafini performed, in addition to the main role, that of Rikardi. About the realization of this figure, Serafini says in his memoirs: “I can say that the beginning of my life as an actor began with the director Esat Oktrova. He worked with me not only as a stage director but also as a teacher.” This way of working characterized him with all the young actors.

Besides acting, we see Serafini making a successful debut in cinematography as well. The roles of Dom Angel in the film “The Fall of the Idols”, Lulezimi in the film “Stars on the Drin”, Bardhyli in “Former Emblem”, Clark in the film “Threads that are cut”, etc. are beautiful and masterfully performed.

In Serafin’s artistic life, directing was an important artistic component, if not the most important. Radiated aesthetically amazing! In the plays he staged, he expressed the concepts of his creativity by building interesting platforms on the stage of Albanian dramaturgy. He valued the national very much. He connected it with identity. As a director, he devoted himself to Albanian drama. It gave her value and dignity.

In the shows he staged, he used all the means of stage action of mise-en-scène, decor, lights, music, props, etc. He worked hard to sculpt the individuality of the actor or actor-ensemble by materializing it with the texts of drama, comedy, etc.

Fanko conveyed them gracefully, full of finesse and poetically to the spectators. Serafin’s work is also distinguished by logic, clarity and dramatic impulses. Through details, emphasizing the main events, building contrasts, etc., it communicates clearly and full of emotion with the spectator, with his feelings and heart.

The director-Serafin, in all the dramas he staged, dissected them to the smallest detail, revealed every value and minimized every flaw of it as much as possible. In his mindset as a director, he never started work without having every detail of the material clear, leaving nothing to spontaneity and chance.

During the research to find the details of the new phenomena directed by Serafin Fanko, new horizons, especially, the study of prof. dr. Josif Papagjonit. The approach to staged dramas and their grouping in common platforms, in-depth analyzes and deductions in relation to the time and duration of each drama, have made his directorial picture fully illuminated.

The directorial thought revealed in the drama “Pisheku ne paja”, the suppressed world of the mountain woman from old customs, with the threat of death warned in case of opposition to the husband. This direction was intertwined with the political action for the liberation and emancipation of the entire Albanian society, with the appeal for the respect of women’s rights, as well as life as a natural right. In the drama “Gjaku i Arbri” by F. Kraja, 1981, he gave a poetic and dramatic shape to the Albanian ballad of Doruntina and Kostandini, as well as that of Ago Ymer, building a spectacle of the epic model, in the proportions and dimensions of of majesty, tragedy and the sublime, which was observed in the manner and style of the actors, in the scenography, in the mise-en-scène, etc.

One of the features of S. Fanku’s art is the fact that he manages to interweave the pictorial composition with the realistic play of the actors, leading them to real characters. The pure expression of the mise-en-scène, the visual presentation of the monumental type, the exquisite sense and the beauty of the poetic word, together with the figurative thinking and the metaphorical load of details, are some of the distinguishing qualities of this director, which were also expressed in the conception of the drama “Fisheku ne paje”, 1968, by F. Krajes.

In the 90s, he managed to significantly enrich expressive forms, as a director with a prominent identity. His directorial concept aimed to discuss, especially after the 90s, existential problems of the Albanian nation in the twists and turns of history, taking a critical stance against archaic, patriarchal and conservative stratifications, as well as the destructive collective consciousness in general. He has appealed for the embrace of a new mindset. Theoretical preparation , extensive knowledge in the field of art, psychology, phytosophy, history, etc., have given him the opportunity to present to the Shkodra Theater troupe, as well as other theaters, deep and exemplary directorial platforms, which have been models for time.

Serafin Fanko has achieved a visible harmonization between realistic and unrealistic images, between the Aristotelian parameters of recreating the life possibility and other non-Aristotelian parameters, which alienate, denigrate, or partially or even completely distract this life possibility. The directorial treatment of the dramaturgical material by the Merited Artist Serafin Fanko has qualitatively responded to the features of the drama. The best values are highlighted such as the sharpness of the conflict, the educative force of the ideas that spring from it, the artistic figures that embody real types with life cider.

The construction of the mise-en-scenes, the handling of the retrospectives of the drama, has been done with taste and culture, which has been done in such a way that it does not interrupt the flow of the main event. In each premiere, we see that important feature of Serafin Fanko’s directorial creativity, which is defined by his sensitivity in finding and maintaining the mass in all the stage elements.

Even these scenic elements, being harmonized to a certain extent, give the viewer a preview of that piece of life that is played on stage. The right finding of this measure has to do with important features of artistic creativity, such as typification and generalization, individuation, etc., which in every premiere, we think, have been resolved in general correctly. With the spectacle “Quo vadis*”, his director comes to us with a completely new pose, which has dramatic, lyrical dimensions and a tendency for philosophical beliefs. In this spectacle, he abstracts and surpasses all the coincidences, the eavesdropping eventualities and the similar coincidences of his previous directorial. His alchemical laboratory enlivens and sets in dramatic motion the entire creative environment with pieces of detail that speak artistically beautifully in the entire stage atmosphere at the service of the spectacle.

Fanko’s directing or creative power works thanks to his unusual reason, thanks to the power of rare imagination, total concentration or intuition. The magic of the show “Dinner Invitation” by the author Stefan Capaliku remains, undoubtedly, the quality direction of the well-known Serafin Fanko, this philosopher of contemporary Albanian theater. Fanko, between the Golgotha of art and the heavy weight of creative self-sacrifice, has achieved the most the end there, at the holy cross of value, where the beautiful is sublimated and affirmed. In this show, Fanku creates such approaches that encourage meditation, that create philosophical syntheses, which naturally give rise to the symbols of our national being, its course of centuries of survival. , the crossroads, the self-destructiveness , and the regenerative capacity of the race. It is, however, a modern, suggestive language.

* * *

Second prize : / 1954 – Libretto of the Operetta “Me ne eshte gezimi” (V. Cangu & T. Daia co-authored with M. Hakon, Lec Fishten).
Cup for the best work of the years at the Film Academy, Prague / 1960 – The film “Adolescents” (screenplay and direction.

Second prize / 1962 – In the National Contest of reciters, with the poem “Mustafa Pasha ne Babune” by N. Mjede.
1968 – In the First National Competition of Theaters, for the pieces “Keshilli i ndrikullave” by Sh. Mites, “Slum” by F. Pacram, (as director) .
1978 – At the National Festival of Theaters, for the play “Baca i Gjetajve” by F. Kraja (as director)
1982 – At the National Festival of Theaters for the play “Gjaku i Arbri” by F. Krajes (as director); In the literary-artistic competition on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the liberation of the Motherland, the part “Birth in the hurricane” (second prize, author).

1990 – The “Golden Tile” award given by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia) The “Aleksander Moisiu” award / 1994 – At the National Festival of Theaters, for the play “Cmurosja” by S. Fanko (spectacle and director)

First prize / 1995 – at the National Theater Festival, for the play “Dinner Invitation” by S. Capalik (directed). “Aleksander Moisiu” Award (directed play) and First Award (directed) / 1997 – At the National Festival of Theaters, for the play “Quo Vadis” by S. Fankos

* * * WORKS 1954 – “With us is joy” (S. Fanko, M. Hanko, L. Fishta) operetta book. 1954-1955 – Cycle of poems, published in the press of the time. 1960 – “Lokja” (short film script). 1960 – “Adolescents” (short film script) 1962 – “lonely island” (lost drama). 1964 – “Beyond the Threshold” (drama) was staged at the “Migjeni” Theater. 1967 – “Four from the Armata” (drama) was staged by the Academy of Arts, Vlore, Shkoder, and many amateur groups; 1974 – “The Happy Couple” was staged for the first time at the “Migjeni” Theater 1976 – “Birth in the Hurricane” (drama), staged at the “Migjeni” Theater 1992 – 1993 “The Song of Proud Pain” (poetic script) on the work of Migjen), staged in Shkoder, Struge, Tirana Opera and Ballet Theatre). “Narration for Macbeth” (poetic script based on the work of Shakespeare, by the authors Mari and Carls Lamb e Noli, staged in the theater “Migjeni”; “Why” (drama, based on the motifs of the novel with the same title by S. Spases on the stage in Shkodër; 1994 – “Journey in anxiety” (drama based on the novel “The General of the Dead Army” by I. Kadare) was staged in the “Cmurosja” theater. (drama, performed at the “Migjeni” theater). 1997 – “Quo vadis” (drama, performed at the Tirana National Theater. 1998 – “Knock on the door of pain” (drama, performed at the “Migjeni” theater

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Albanian Cinematography since in 2013
Reference: “Memory of a city” / albas publications 2019 – p

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