Vitore Çeli (1928 – 2011) | One of the first female cinematographers!

Vitore Çeli (1928 – 2011) Director and one of the first cinematographers of montage and documentary film. The viewers of an older generation have often met to read her name in different documentaries of Kinostudio from the first years. Well, she is a well-known name, an important part of the history of Albanian film, even though today, despite the development of technology and different ways of information, once again names such as Vitore Celi have been forgotten and continue as such by the Albanian media. . I had learned somewhere (but I couldn't remember) that this lady was born in New York, USA, and that little bit was enough to arouse my curiosity, even though her name appeared several times in Kinostudio documentaries. Ms. Vitore Çeli was born in New York on May 24, 1928, from a family of Albanian immigrants, and is one of the first pioneers as a filmmaker since the foundation and beginnings of the main and only film institution, Kinostudio "Alhqiperia e Re" ". At a young age, he returned to Albania and joined the founding staff of Kinostudio, who felt the need to bring the staff closer. He was 25 years old when he was sent to specialize as an editing director in Moscow, in BS, which he successfully completed during the period of time, 1953 – 1957. Upon returning to Kinostudio, many documentaries but also feature films, whether short or long, bear the signature of Mrs. Çeli. We can quote some of them as: "To cry and to laugh"; "Her children"; "Ours"; "Fortune"; "Debate"; "Special task"; "Our land"; "The first years"; "Compassion over death"; they are all the first productions of the Kinostudios brand that carry the editing firm of Vitore Çeli. On the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the People's Theater, she shot as a director the 23-minute documentary "Our Theater" in 1964, decorated with the First Class Order. Since this year, the filmmaker has produced about 35 documentary and chronicle creations, the theme of which was mainly that of the day with the common man at their center, such as: "Our Children"-1969; "Young residents of Joni"; "Roads to the homeland"; "Girls of metallurgy"; "School and the ways of life" – 1970; "Brother Topulli" – 1972; "Bekim Fehmiu in Albania" – 1972; "Album of 10 student games" – 1974; "Unquenchable Partisan Fire" – 1974; "Asdren, the poet of the poppy and the little ones"; "Young residents of Jonit" honored with an award in 1975; "Home of knowledge, home of freedom" – 1975; "New Kukesi" – 1978; "Mathematics and production"-1978; "Our Motherland sings"; "Doctor Professor Aleksander Xhuvani" – 1980; "Albanian connection to Prizren" – 1981; "Wait, wait Skenderbene" – 1984, etc. Vitore Celi has skillfully drawn also famous historical and cultural portraits of our people: "Brother Topulli"; "Aleksander Xhuvani"; "Wait wait Skenderbene"; "Albanian connection of Prizren"; "Asdren, the poet of the poppy and the little ones"; He worked naturally and with a fluency of plans which often created a harmony with the text of the subject being narrated, putting into operation all the auxiliary accessories of the film such as music, noises, the speaker's voice, recordings, etc. Other documentaries bearing her name and signature are "Representatives of the Brotherly Chinese People" – 1957; "Once upon a time side by side" – 1966 (co-director); "May 1, 1967"; "Happy days"-1967; "VI Congress of BPSH" – 1967; "Unforgotten memories" – 1967; "Kindergartens" – 1969; "School and the ways of life" – 1971; "60th anniversary of independence" – 1972; "Deputy and representative of the Cambodian people in Albania" – 1973; "Steel fist, VI brigade" – 1974; "Once Young" – 1974; "Albania today" – 1974; "Roads to the Motherland" – 1976; "Poem for steel" – 1976; "Albania, Socialist People's Republic" – 1977; "Girls of metallurgy" – 1977; "Assembly of young female fighters" – 1978; "Our Motherland sings" – 1978; "Celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the connection of the Albanians of Prizren" – 1978; "35th anniversary of the Democratic Government of Berat" – 1979, etc. With the documentary "Asdreni, poeti i lulekuqes e i vjejlise", she was awarded the first prize for the best documentary at the 1st Albanian Film Festival in 1976. In 1991, she returned to her country of birth in the USA Nderroi died in October 2011 at the age of 83. ____________________ It was published for the first time in Albanian Cinematography, August 2016 and reviewed in May 2020. Reference: "Scene and Screen" – v.1976.

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