Short Film Forum

Silent Return

Fiction / Albania
Director: Dionis Prifti
Producer: Genc Përmeti
Production Company: Ska-Ndal Productions
Language: Albanian
Estimated Duration: 18 Minutes
Current Stage Of Development: Financing Stage, Early Preproduction

Synopsis:
Communist Albania, 1986.

Nesti (40) is granted a rare permit to travel to Greece, where he encounters an unfamiliar world of freedom that shatters the propaganda he has grown up believing. Amazed and disoriented, he returns home with gifts for his family, only to face an absurd inspection at the border. His belongings are confiscated, logos are cut away, and every trace of the outside world is forcibly erased. Surrounded by fear and constant surveillance, Nesti is compelled to remain silent about what he has seen, while his family's small dreams are painfully crushed.

Director’s Biography:
Dionis Prifti is a film director and writer based in Tirana, holding an MA in Film Directing from the University of Arts. He has directed and co-directed several short films and a short documentary.

His latest script, 'Antimuseum', was produced as an animated short film and is currently touring festivals, while 'An Unusual Event' was produced in Sarajevo through the StudAVP Project. Dionis is currently developing his first feature film, 'The Agent', which received a development grant from South Adriatic Co-Development Film Fund FRAME and was selected for TorinoFilmLab Next 2026. He was also selected for Midpoint’s Writer’s Room 2026 and serves as a selector for short films at the Tirana International Film Festival.

As a writer, he has published two books: 'Two Weeks Under the Balloon', winner of the Kadare Prize 2024, and 'Bar Sahara', which received the National Center for Books and Reading’s First Prize in Prose.

Producer’s Biography:
Writer, director, and producer Genc Përmeti began his career as a visual artist in Tirana, Albania. His work has been exhibited in numerous art shows in Albania, Denmark, Greece, the Netherlands, and other countries. Përmeti was the screenwriter and producer of director Goran Paskaljević’s 'Honeymoons', the first Albanian-Serbian co-production. Alongside writing several Albanian productions, he has produced and co-produced internationally acclaimed films, including the documentary 'La Nave Dolce', winner of the Critics' Award at the Venice Film Festival (2012), Mark Cousins’ essay documentary 'Here Be Dragons' (2014), Antonio Morabito’s Netflix film 'Forgive Us Our Debts' (2018), and the recent 'Light Falls' (2023), directed by Oscar-nominated cinematographer Phedon Papamichael.

Support Sought From Short Film Forum:
Pitching and making the story stand out for national and international audiences. Any feedback related to the artistic direction would be highly beneficial. We are looking for industry connections, producers, as well as festival programmers. We are also looking for short film world sales to have them on board before shooting.