ZOUND
On the stage of a Concert Hall a Female PIANO PLAYER is performing on a grand piano; only the acoustic, muted sounds of piano hammers are heard and not the normal keyboard sound.
On a Call Centre Aula, over 200 seated call operators are framed, communicating with headsets and microphone put on, a messy amalgam of phrases, sentences or chats are heard simultaneously, increasing this robotic, confusing and depressing way of communication, leading on a climax after which comes…a short break from that work that shows us the FEMALE OPERATOR kissing and hugging passionately with her BOYFRIEND; no word to say, not a single sound is heard until…an alarming, brutal buzzer makes her back to the harmful noisy work of the Call Center.
We’re on a taxi who’s DRIVER tries talking with his GIRLFRIEND concerning a possible abortion, dealing on and on with her and the traffic noises, messy road workers, old used buses, scooter’s loud exhaust, shouts, horns, and cornets honking, policeman whistling and finally with a stopped ambulance with the sharp sound of its siren which stops close to them leading the soundtrack of this scene to a high pitched climax, on a crazy stopped traffic.
We’re in the same taxi as before but this time as a deaf-mute GIRL’s P.O.V. who sees the TAXIDRIVER and his GIRLFRIEND’s relationship as lovable; she gets off the taxi and the same scenes are crossed and revised from her Point of View, as soundless video; kaleidoscopic visions, trees rustling, an airplane passing over our heads or a foggy road, a wild black dog barking “soundless”; we see her as a pedestrian at the kissing sequence from the Call Center, as a spectator on the auditorium of a strange Piano Concerto with Orchestra and Working Tools where she seems to find her twin soul, another deaf-mute BOY; they seat together for the second part of the concert when suddenly we hear…”CUT, very good one” and we see the film’s shooting team.
Follows a backstage documentary that testifies how this film is made, despite the noises, messy surroundings, real-life cacophonies; the footage is untouched, the sound is not elaborated or mixed thus adding another veracity layer to the film’s subject.
For the last time, we’re back at the stage of the Concert Hall where the Female PIANO PLAYER is performing Handel’s “Minuet in G Minor”.
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Gentian GjikopulliDirectorZound (Short) 2020, Poliphony (Short) 2020, Soundless (Short) 2020
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Gentian GjikopulliWriter
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Adrian RuciProducer
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Spiro NinoProducerBon Appetit, Missing Earring, 6 Idiots
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Kastriot ShehiKey Cast"The Taxi Driver"Falco, Open Door, Mali i harrum, Dita zë fill, Life Between Waters
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Helga MustafarajKey Cast"The Girlfriend"
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Sonila HyseniKey Cast"The Deaf-Mute Girl"
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Rexhina IbroKey Cast"Call Center Operator"
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Isli DautiKey Cast"The Boyfriend"
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Françeska ÇonikuKey Cast"The Young Mother"
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Florian HAXHIHYSENIKey CrewDirector of Photography / Editor
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Florian HETAKey CrewSound Designer / Sound Recordist
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Mateo CINGUKey CrewLine Producer
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Laured ISUFAJKey CrewFirst Assistant Director
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Jurgen KURTIKey CrewBoom Operator
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Evi GjoniKey CrewScript Supervisor
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Project Title (Original Language):ZË
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Project Type:Experimental, Feature
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Genres:Drama
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Runtime:1 hour 18 minutes
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Completion Date:May 15, 2020
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Production Budget:65,000 EUR
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Country of Origin:Albania
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Country of Filming:Albania
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Language:Albanian, Italian
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Shooting Format:2K Digital
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:Yes
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Student Project:No
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TIFF - Tirana International Film FestivalTirana, Albania
Albania
September 20, 2020
National Premiere
Official Selection -
FLIGHT - Mostra Internazionale del Cinema di GenovaGenoa
Italy
September 30, 2021
Regional Premiere
Official Competition Selection -
BPFF - Balkan Panorama Film FestivalBuca-Izmir
Turkey
September 27, 2021
Balkan Premiere
Official Selection -
BIFF - Boden International Film FestivalBoden
Sweden
December 19, 2021
Finalist Official Selection -
SEE FF - South East Europe Film FestivalParis
France
June 3, 2022
National Premiere
Official Selection / Best Actress Award - Helga Mustafaraj
Distribution Information
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Gentian GjikopulliSales AgentCountry: AlbaniaRights: All Rights
Gentian Gjikopulli, born in Tirana, Albania 1974, is a visual artist and an advertising art director. Graduated at the Academy of Fine Arts in Tirana in 1996, he begins his career as an artist in the early ‘90s and still going on. His work has been exhibited internationally in private galleries and museums, most of them collective participations and only one solo show. He is the winner of the Public Prize “Spring ‘95” and the third prize award-winning “Onufri 1997”, both national competitions held in the National Gallery of Arts, Tirana.
From 1998 still working at the Artistic High School “Jordan Misja” in Tirana as a teacher of painting, drawing, and graphics and also as an Editing and Design Instructor at the “Harry Fultz” Community College. He is a co-founder of AV-RA Studio, a team that produces TV-Spots and commercial advertising, counting over 100 of them.
“Zound” is his first feature film, a project that has gained the financial support of the Albanian National Center of Cinematography and RTSH-Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (National Albanian Radio and Television).
The main theme of the film ZOUND is an international problem, something that most countries fight against, not so obvious but still very dangerous and harmful - acoustic pollution.
It’s a project undergone several rewritings, developments, and transformations through its 6 years of life. Inspired by true events its context could be seen as a fable with an artistic resolution at the end.
Through the timeline and the unfolding of the story, we experience the difference between points of view, between different categories of people confronting themselves, the suffocation of individuality from the mass society pressure, the absence of responsibility towards the others and above all an alternate view through the eyes of a deaf-mute character, who’s the absence of sound makes her see the beauty in an otherwise messy, cacophonic world.
The title, ZOUND is also the core concept; in my opinion, visually and graphically speaking, the letter Z provoke uneasiness, an uncomfortable state, is more offensive, more aggressive than the curvy, delicate, innocuous, soft letter S; so, SOUND has become ZOUND in English, ZON in French, ZUONO in Italian.
A key challenge of the film was to find a tonal balance between grotesque and realistic, subjective and objective, imaginary, and grounded because ZOUND is a drama in which realistic narrative and naturalistic techniques are combined with surreal (magical) elements of dream and fantasy.