Albania_Land_of_Mystery
Albania_Land_of_Mystery

This part of the Earth, where the last giants fought their fierce battles, is still filled with mountains, deep valleys and ravines, it has enormous rocky cliffs as well as underground rivers; it is oh so wild, such a vast area of dark deep ancient forests and so few inhabitants as a memory of the doomsday has not yet faded. There are numerous places where no human has set foot before. Above this wilderness and eerie wasteland, a solitary eagle is soaring in circles. Such is Albania, a mysterious land just like in fairy tales...

The most precious treasure of Albania is, however, its natural beauty, especially the wonderful unmarked mountains combining both freedom and anxiety. The sky blue seas, ancient lakes, alabaster karst, dense European rainforests, rocky and thorny Mediterranean, fauna and flora incomparable to anywhere else in the world. And all that is on a territory smaller than that of Slovakia. It is a land where descriptions of new species or an occurrence of morphologically hidden species are still possible. It is literally unique in Europe. Just like the Albanian folk used to be isolated by the mountain range of Hellenides, the local biota has gone through dramatic evolutionary history, which is apparent namely from the diversity of amphibians and reptiles.
And it was the research into them in this country which triggered the idea to create a film about Albania in the first place.

Daniel Jablonski

Daniel Jablonski (presenter)

Currently, I am a research assistant on the Department of Zoology at the Comenius University in Bratislava, and my research interest includes evolutionary-biogeographical questions related to the origin of the genetic diversity of amphibians and reptiles. A special emphasis is placed in the Balkan Peninsula and Central and Southeast Asia that are the most important evolutionary places of the world. Besides that, I love traveling and photography. More you can see at the website www.danieljablonski.com

Brano Molnar

Braňo Molnár (camera)

My whole life was connected with nature, especially with Low Tatras and the Danube River, where I have spent most of my life with my camera in my hand. I would like to mention few of my awarded films like Low Tatras, heart of Slovakia (Nízke Tatry srdce Slovenska) – Mountains and city 2011 – Literary Fund of the Slovak Republic award, Hooves in the wind (Vo vetre kopýt) - International film festival with the theme of hunting and nature conservation 2015 – 1. price, category 1 (The hunting documentary film and the methodological and educational film), Agrofilm 2014 - Chairman of Nitra Self-governing Region award, Mountains and city 2016 - V4 PRIX countries award), White Embrace (Biele objatie) – Adrenalín Film Festival 2015 – Jury Award, International festival of outdoor films 2016 – 2nd place, category B (Snow), National Geographic Czech – Snow film fest 2016 – Jury award and Bratislava - a city surrounded by nature (Bratislava, mesto uprostred prírody) – Mountains and city 2017 – V PRIX countries award. As leader of the filming crew I participated on four expeditions to Albania.

Daniel Grula

Daniel Gruľa (producer)

I work part-time on the Department of Zoology at the Comenius University in Bratislava, where I am focusing on the ichthyology. My second job and is filming and video production. In addition to filming in Albania, I also participated in making a new documentary film about Central and Southeast Asia.

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