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Koko Fest closes amid emotions and triumph of artists in Korça

2025-09-07 11:33:00, Kulturë CNA

After seven nights filled with humor, emotions and art, the curtain fell on the next edition of Koko Fest in Korça, a festival that has now become one of the most important cultural events in the city and beyond. This festival brought to the stage of the “Andon Zako Çajupi” theater a mosaic of diverse performances, bringing together troupes from Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, as well as Italy, giving the event an increasingly strong international dimension.

The Korça audience had the opportunity to attend performances that dealt with various topics, from everyday problems to great messages about love for life and country. The theater hall was full every night, showing not only the audience's thirst for quality art, but also the belief that humor remains one of the most powerful forms to reflect on reality. On the last evening, awards were also given, which were accompanied by many emotions for the actors, directors and participating troupes. From young actors who took their first steps on stage, to well-known names who were appreciated for their careers, this year's festival concluded leaving behind a special artistic atmosphere in Korça.

Zamira Kita, actress and director of the Korça theater, said that the audience warmly welcomed the festival and the awards were distributed with a professional and qualitative evaluation by the jury.

" I am very pleased that we managed to successfully close Koko Fest. Today was the seventh night, we had the Prizren troupe present. We had different troupes, including Italian ones, because we are trying to open with Koko Fest, to make it international as a festival. I am very happy that the audience received it well and the awards went where they should, where the jury made a good, professional, qualitative assessment of all the performances and participants in Koko Fest. Personally, I am pleased that the audience followed Koko Fest a lot, we had many guests from Tirana, Kosovo, North Macedonia, but also that the best actress award was shared between the three actresses of our performance, namely Olta Daku, Egla Ceno and me. Art is done in a group and the three of us being together, we managed to win this award ," said Kita.

Koko Fest closes amid emotions and triumph of artists in Korça

Actress Zamira Kita

Director Andia Xhunga won five awards with her troupe in this edition, including “Best Play” and “Best Direction”, as well as the audience award. Xhunga said she is very happy for the awards she received and for the reception given to her by the Korça audience.

" We are very happy for this reception that the Korçë audience gave us and the jury for the assessments that they gave us. We received 5 awards. What could be more beautiful, starting with the audience award and stealing the audience's heart, as well as "best direction", "best play", "best leading actor" Gentian Zenelaj and "youngest actor" Aleks Seitaj. I am very happy, it was a very big surprise. I am glad that the message that the work has, has conveyed to the audience and the audience finds itself from beginning to end in this small lost country here in Albania. The message of the play is that when we love the country, no matter how lost it is and how many problems it has, if we work a little every day with dedication and love, the country will be made ", said Xhunga.

Director Andia Xhunga

This special evening also honored a great figure of Albanian art, director Gëzim Kame, who received the career award. Kame expressed that he feels very honored by the theater for this award.

" I feel very respected by the Korça theater and the city, but first of all by this theater that has an extraordinary history in history. Receiving the career award in this type of theater really moved me. Humor today has entered a vortex of the market economy, which is aimed at winning and not at having its true function. This deep humor that Albanians have in general, is missing from the Albanian scene during this period ," said director Kame.

Director Gëzim Kame

Koko Fest closed amidst the applause of the audience and the emotions of the artists, leaving behind seven nights filled with art, humor and reflection. This festival showed once again that Korça not only preserves its tradition, but is capable of producing events with cultural impact that transcend local borders. The goal for the future is for Koko Fest to grow further and strengthen its international dimension, bringing more and more foreign troupes to Korça.

With this energy and the dedication of the artists, the festival is becoming an emblem of the city and an important space where art meets the public. Korça thus closed another successful cultural chapter, proving once again that it is a city that lives and breathes art./ CNA