Trial Against the Declassed from Poshnja, Berat January 6-7, 1978(Gjyqi Kundër Të Deklasuarëve Nga Poshnja Berat 6-7 Januar 1978)

Perhaps the most chilling testament to the ruthlessness of Albania’s communist regime, this documentary presents a public trial in a packed cinema: four young men accused of industrial sabotage and listening to foreign music. In the finale, replicating the Stalinist show trials of the 1950s, the audience applauds the death sentences for two defendants, and long prison terms for the other two who absurdly also lose their voting rights. The ice cold Poshnja is a rarely-screened, forbidden film (it is not even listed on the Albanian archive website) and the sole directing effort of Albania’s leading film scholar, Abaz Hoxha.