Bloodlands (film)
Bloodlands (Template:Langx) is a 2017 Australian-AlbanianTemplate:Sfn horror film directed and written by Steven Kastrissios. It stars Gëzim Rudi and Suela Bako as members of a family that have a blood feud with a shtriga.
Plot
Skender, a butcher in Albania, is struggling financially and facing bankruptcy. He refuses to allow his wife Shpresa to hold a job, but Shpresa is fearful of the damage that bankruptcy would cause to their reputation. Their daughter lliriana announces that she is moving to Italy with a friend. A being known as the shtriga begins to haunt the family after Skender harasses two people scavenging for pet food outside of his shop.
Cast
- Gëzim Rudi as Skender
- Suela Bako as Shpresa
- Emiljano Palali as Artan
- Alesia Xhemalaj as Iliriana
- Ilire Vinca Çelaj as Drita
- Dritan Arbana as Florian
- Florist Bajgora as Erald
- Andi Begolli as Leo
- Enxhi Cuku as Lorena
- Fioralba Kryemadhi as Vlora
- Edvin Mustafa as Bako
- Rina Narazani as Town Clerk
- Ermal Sadiku as Olek
Production
Steven Kastrissios, an Australian, wrote and directed the film while the entire cast was Albanian.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The story was inspired by Albanian blood feuds and stories told by Dritan Arbana, a friend of Kastrissios and a producer for the film.Template:Sfn The cinematography was done by Leander Ljarja and Kastrissios composed the music.Template:Sfn
Bloodlands was marketed as the first Albanian horror film.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Filming in AlbaniaTemplate:Sfn started in October 2014.Template:Sfn Kastrissios relied on translators as the cast did not speak English and shot the film in Albanian despite fears that not being in English would hurt its distribution.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Release
Bloodlands premiered at the Glasgow Film Festival on 25 February 2017,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn and was released in Tirana, on 22 September.Template:Sfn It was shown at the Sitges Film Festival, Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, Fantasporto,Template:Sfn and Melbourne International Film Festival.Template:Sfn It was given a video on demand release on 30 January 2018.Template:Sfn
References
Works cited
Magazines
News
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Web
External links
This article incorporates text from the Wikipedia article "Bloodlands (film)", available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License.Retrieved 2026-02-27.