The documentary “Beyond the Wall – Mother of Good Counsel” was presented at the 83rd Venice Film Festival, following painful moments in Albanian history: wars, invasions, the exodus of people from their homeland and the years of communist dictatorship. With the idea and direction of Gjon Kolndrekaj and a screenplay by Pal Kolndrekaj, the documentary brings a narrative that connects Albania with Italy, through a story that begins in Shkodra and travels across the borders to Gennezano for nearly 6 centuries.
"Every pope has had his own image, both John Paul II and Francis. While Pope Leo the 14th has the Mother of Good Counsel. We saw it at the beginning of his mission, so it was a pleasure for me to introduce Albania to the world in this dimension because they do not know our history as a people," said author Gjon Kolndrekaj.
The Patriarch of Venice, Monsignor Francesco Moraglia, said that speaking about Our Lady of Good Counsel means speaking about an identity through memory.
"Our Lady of Good Counsel is the story of a people who have known divisions, cultural differences, different religious affiliations and who during the twentieth century experienced the harshest form of persecution. Therefore, to speak of Our Lady of Good Counsel means to speak of an identity through memory," he said.
The Archbishop of Shkodra, Monsignor Giovanni Peragine and the Rector of the Basilica "Mother of Good Counsel" shared with those present a little of the history of the persecution of Catholic clergy during the communist period, when religious belief was banned and religious institutions were destroyed.
"Our Lady of Good Counsel for Albanians is part of their cultural and religious identity, which has accompanied this people throughout its history, starting from invasions, wars, persecutions, but also in the return to religion, which was banned for nearly 50 years," said Giovanni Peragine, Archbishop of Shkodra.
For Dom Artur Jaku, rector of the Basilica of Our Lady in Shkodra, "those who know Albania well know that Albanians have never stopped believing in and holding Mother Mary in their hearts. If during communism you kept a holy icon or a cross in your home, you were arrested, you could even be shot. Albanians kept everything secretly, even the image of the Blessed Lady, because this very image was a message of hope and faith."
Historian Pjerin Mirdita says that the documentary comes as a narrative about what time could not erase.
An Albanian story that begins in Shkodra, passes through Italy and is now heading towards an international audience. Because walls can separate places and people, but they cannot separate memory from roots.
