While undertaking her GERMIN research project in Tirana, UQ|UP’s Dorina Pojani has been actively engaging with the city’s rich and vibrant cultural life. One recent highlight was her participation in the Film Club, a government-supported initiative dedicated to revisiting films produced during Albania’s communist dictatorship. The program pairs public screenings with critical discussion, archival material, and first-hand testimonies, creating space for audiences to interrogate the gap between propaganda and reality.

Dorina was invited to speak at a session themed “The Early Years”, centred on the film adaptation of The Swamp, based on the canonical novel by Fatmir Gjata. Drawing on her research, she offered an ecofeminist reading of the film. Her analysis highlighted how nature and the environment are portrayed as adversarial forces—effectively constructed as another “class enemy” to be conquered in the service of socialist modernisation and progress. This perspective contributes to broader debates on the ideological use of landscape, labour, and nature in Socialist Realism. The discussion resonated strongly with audiences and fellow panellists, highlighting the continued relevance of critical re-readings of Albania’s cultural archive. The event attracted significant media attention. A follow-up television interview with Dorina will air later this week.