"On the cold January 5, 1982, I start the rehearsals with a reading. The entire ensemble is gathered. I feel boundless pleasure. After a quarter of a century, I found myself with the colleagues with whom I started my acting career. Finally, I act in my native language," wrote Bekim Fehmiu. But the great Albanian actor did not act in Albanian. The answer to this is his own story.
Bekim Fehmiu's account in his autobiographical book "The Magnificent and the Terrible" (part two) is the best answer he gives to the question of why he did not play in Albanian, which returns from time to time in different circles. The following is the third part of this account.
“A beautiful, sunny November day (1981). In front of the People's Theatre in Prishtina, I was met by the director Hazir Miftari, otherwise a younger colleague. He offered me to play Hamlet. I refused. Faruk Begolli and the director from Zagreb, George Paro, worked on Hamlet for over a year. The director convinces me that Paro and Faruk have given up on the project. – When he confirms this to me personally, we can talk, but not on the street. After a month, the director called me and set up a meeting at 'Manjezh', in Belgrade... Faruku confirmed that he had given up. Everyone convinced me to accept it.
I was over 45 years old. Time has trampled me for that role. But it seemed to me that I could still find the key and I accepted it. We agreed, on January 5, 1982, we started rehearsals. The premiere will be on April 5 of the same year. Here, after a quarter of a century, the first offer from the Provincial People's Theater from Pristina arrived. I accepted the role for two reasons: anti-Albanian propaganda in a very perfidious way took off in all the media. I wanted to try to change the clichéd image that has been created about Albanians through artistic creativity. I also wanted to work on the play, which will be an example of how to work in a temple such as the theater and eventually stimulate the awareness and enthusiasm of young people", wrote Bekim Fehmiu. His story continues in detail.
"The theater buffet. A real cafe where you can drink and eat snacks. The director, with his secretary, Xhevdet Lila, introduced me to the director from England, Jeremy Young... With an exaggerated handshake, I want to give the impression of a powerful man. Not even five minutes passed since he sat down, after the conventional questions and answers, he threw his hand on my shoulders and said: 'You will be a fantastic Hamlet'. I looked directly into his pupils, like blue water. He removed his hand from my shoulders. He understood the look.
I ask the director how they got to this director.
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"We are proud of you, but..."
– Ragip Loxha's son lives in London. He even recommended it.
On the cold January 5, 1982, we started the rehearsals with a reading. The entire ensemble is gathered. I feel boundless pleasure. After a quarter of a century, I found myself with the colleagues with whom I started my acting career. Finally, I am acting in my native language.
I am surprised that even after many proof readings, the director did not say anything about his vision of the play, nor did he give any explanation. My impression – he is a craftsman. I call London. I ask about him. They replied that they had never heard of that name. Not a week passed and the jokes were already circulating: Ouch! Bekimi strangled us, working with himself' With the help of the lecturer, Dr. Rexhep Ismajli, I managed to master the beautiful and rich translation of Hamlet into Albanian by Fan S. Noli in ten days. Xhevad Qorraj, a talented actor, is not trying to get rid of the wrong emphasis; or, in the small remark about the logical emphasis, the prima donna and beautiful bespectacled actress, Melihate Ajeti, reacted harshly. 'Don't teach us! We know something too' I expected cooperation in ideas and constructive criticism.
During a rehearsal, Young called the high school student who played Ophelia a cow. No one present understood this, except the translator Nevruz. The director, mechanically, looked at me. I warned him that he was a guest, that he was paid for his work and not to insult his colleagues, that I would not tolerate this.
After three weeks of work, Yang is not satisfied. I reminded him that we are not English actors.
- I don't care. There's no time to waste!
- We have enough time - I don't have one. The premiere should be held on March 4nd, because my new obligations start on the 2th. - You mean on March XNUMXnd? - Yes. I'm traveling on the XNUMXrd. I have such a contract. I'm paid to shoot Hamlet for six weeks. So, please, let's continue with the rehearsal. - My head was spinning.
In the office, the director confirmed Jang's words. I ask him how he dared to sign such a contract, when he knows what kind of people we are, when he hasn't even learned the text of the role himself? Why did he lie to me? The answers were typical 'self-governing'. - I can't do this for six weeks. Unfortunately, I don't have your skills! - I said and angrily went to the hotel. I'm trying to find an answer to the question: why? In vain! The phone rang.
The director asks if he can come visit. He came with his secretary Lila. They beg me to continue working and convince me that the premiere will be on April 5. When asked what about the director, they answer: - Don't worry at all. Everything will be fine!
I was tormented by the fact that I had an unsuccessful collaboration with Azem Shkreli behind me. How could I let the attempt with the theater fail? How could I collaborate with the arrogant director, against whom I have a version?
The stage manager, Basri Çitaku, invited the actors on stage. The director and the secretary sat down next to me. Director Jang also came, glanced at the hall and at that moment noticed me. He did not sit down. He started walking in front of the stage. After a few circles, he turned to the director, asking him to remove me from the hall. He did not understand. I could barely contain myself. In the end, at Jang's insistence, Nevruzi translated. Consternation hung in the air. On stage. In the hall. We were stunned. I waited for the reaction of the host or some member of the theater. Calm. It started to boil inside me. No one, absolutely no one, opened their mouths. The director, instead of saying: 'Mr. Yang, you are paid to direct, and who will sit in the hall is my competence', instead – he addressed me.
- Bekim, please, let's go out so that no scandal breaks out. Without a word, I stood up. At the gate I said: - Let's go. I wish you well! I went out, in the bright sunlight towards the end of January. What kind of people are these colleagues of mine? Where is their dignity, human, artistic? Could something similar have happened in any other national theater? Never in my life have I felt so humiliated, so lonely. The black, turbulent river gushed, carrying with it torn bodies and throwing the swollen pieces onto the shore... Thus our cooperation ended ingloriously", Fehmiu writes. But two more offers followed.
Two more failed bids
“A beautiful spring day. I was sitting in the 'Grand' hotel in Pristina. Two young people approached me. They asked me to read their script. The next day, they were waiting for me at the same table. They had arrived earlier. They introduced themselves: Agim Sopi, a film director who graduated from the academy in Zagreb. Fadil Hysa, a playwright. A student from Sarajevo. Judging by their accents, Agim is from the village and Fadil is from the city.
- We wrote the script together. The topic is interesting. We think you should play the main role. Agimi will shoot it – said F. Hysa and handed me the book with blue covers.
- I like it. It's thin – I joke, in order to dispel their fear.
- It is set in West Germany and Kosovo. Your role is... I looked through the script. On the first page it said "Man from the Earth". Writers: Fadil Hysa and Agim Sopi. Special advisor for film dramaturgy: Azem Shkreli.
– Did you write it together with Azem?
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"Spring will really be late"
- No, just us.
- Then why is his name here? - You know why.
They were right. I knew it, without Azem there is no project.
I read the script. I liked the role. The old man thrown into the developed world of West Germany. In a world where he doesn't know the language and doesn't know the customs, where he has no one of his own, except his son, who is constantly on the road, and his German daughter-in-law, who has a lover. I can imagine how the old Albanian educated according to Lek Dukagjini's Kanun must have felt. What a spiritual storm he experienced.
- Boy, I am ready to help you in every way. We will organize the film's working community. We will shoot it like "Special Education", without a single dinar. Since I will act without money, I am convinced that my colleagues will also act like that. I will ask them personally. They were enthusiastic. They promised to improve the scenes, in which I had minor remarks. Maybe a year passed. The director Isa Qosja called me.
- For what reason? What have you been doing all this time?
- I would come to Belgrade to bring the script 'Man from the Soil' and we could talk. - Are you shooting the film? - No, Agim Sopi will shoot it, but I am employed here as the head of production. - Do you produce so many films a year that you need a head? – I am surprised and congratulate him. So you call me boss? Welcome!
Dark day. The rain has just started to fall. The phone rings. – We are here, in the 'Mala Moskva' cafe (Belgrade). We are waiting for you – announces Isa Qosja. Qosja has rejuvenated. He looks elegant. - I want you to accept the role and we can really shoot a good film. This is the final version of the shooting book.
What is hidden there? As I leafed through the first pages, I came across insignificant details, but the most important thing awaited me. They had changed the setting. The event from West Germany, where the main character has no one of his own, was transferred to Turkey, where from the Ottoman Empire, Gjergj Kastriot Skanderbeg until today, there have been as many Albanians as you want from Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania... They have turned a global topic into a local topic. People do not know what loneliness means. I have experienced it during these 30 years of work as a foreigner - guest worker. What a sin has been committed against an extraordinary story. Only the ignorant (the ignorant) could have done this, my late grandmother would say.
I call Agim Sopi. - Isa told me that you asked for a lot of money. I am ready to give you my fee! I offered to establish a film community and work without a single dinar. How is it possible that I am asking for money now? Of course, I did not accept the role. It was hard for me that two talented young artists allowed such a compromise, with which a beautiful work was distorted. Where is their artistic self? All this reminded me of Xaj Nura's poem: 'You have killed time, man. You have killed life...'", Bekim Fehmiu recounts.
Broken April
"A very hot day. Xhemil Vraniqi, the brother of my high school friend Veli, met me. He asked me if I would star in the French film 'Broken April', based on the novel by Ismail Kadare, the famous European writer from Albania.
The script – extraordinary. I accepted it, even though this was the first film by the French director of Albanian origin, Lirije Begaj. The producer is Federic Mitterrand, the son of the brother of the president of France, François Mitterrand... I helped the assistant director and the director of the film when casting the roles. I suggested colleagues from Pristina, Skopje and Gjakova. One role was supposed to be played by Milo Miranović from the JDP. He was wonderfully suited to the role of the highlander.
Apart from Zdravko Velimirović's documentary, no one has touched on the subject of blood feuds. Ismail Kadare described this brilliantly in his novel set during the reign of King Ahmet Zog in Albania in 1931, which is now being made into a film. I have never read such a good script about blood feuds.
Frederic Mitterrand wrote three times to A. Shkreli and 'Kosovafilm', asking for cooperation. There is no response. He also offered it to 'Jadran film'. They accepted. However, since Batrić-Jovanović raised the issue and raised a lot of dust in the Assembly of the SFRY, how the Croats, namely 'Jadran film' dare to shoot a film about Mussolini with George Scott in the lead role, 'Jadran film' withdrew. It did not want to have political problems.
Albanian youth, whose number is increasing day by day, are being tortured in prisons. Macedonia also contributed to the anti-Albanian psychosis. It is so strong that Albanians fled from there and came to Kosovo. In Tetovo, the Macedonian authorities decided to demolish the fences and walls around all Albanian houses, in villages and towns, which are part of the traditional culture of living in those areas. 'This is a new urban planning regulation', say the chauvinist authorities, for the areas in Western Macedonia, where Albanians mainly live. The excavators, accompanied by the militia, began 'their construction work'.
This is affecting me more and more. How long will this last? I'm feeling a bit stymied. I don't know what to do. So the offer to shoot a film in France came at the right time.
The night before we set off on our journey, my colleague from Gjakova called me and asked if I was going to France for filming. I confirmed it. - Our Minister of Culture, Sali Nushi, 'advised' us not to go. - Do as you wish! - I told him.
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Bekim Fehmiu's unrealized dream of acting in Albanian
A major campaign was initiated against Ismail Kadare, after his interview on the bloody events in Kosovo. Despite Kadare's political statements, I decided to go and participate in the filming of the film 'Broken April'. I was not interested in Kadare's political activity, nor that of Ivo Andriqi, who in 1939 wrote the program of the 'solution' of the Albanian issue in Kosovo", wrote Bekim Fehmiu.
This article is published on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the death of actor Bekim Fehmiu (June 15, 2010), for which occasion the book "Bekim with love" was also published with poems, paintings, sayings about the actor and Bekim Fehmiu himself.
