Oscars: Albania Selects 'Daybreak' for Foreign-Language Category

Gentian Koci's feature debut premiered last month at the Sarajevo Film Festival.

Albania has selected Gentian Koci's feature debut Daybreak as its candidate for best foreign-language film Oscar consideration.

The movie tells the story of a young mother who moves with her 1-year-old son to work as an in-home caretaker for a bedridden elderly woman after being kicked out of her home for failing to pay the rent. Leta (Ornela Kapetani) must keep the sick older woman alive at any cost.

Daybreak had its world premiere last month at the Sarajevo Film Festival, where Kapetani was named best actress for her role.

An Albania-Greece co-production, the film was developed at Sarajevo's Cinelink program. Daybreak was produced by Artalb Film and Graal Films with the financial support of Eurimages, the Albanian National Center of Cinematography, Greek Film Center, the Albanian Ministry of Culture, Albanian Public Radio-Television, Tirana city government and the SEE Cinema Network.

International sales are being handled by Wide.

Albania has entered candidates for the Oscars 10 times since 1996, but has never been nominated.