A 10 Minute Swim

Set in the 1970s during Enver Hoxha’s reign in Albania, A 10 Minute Swim is a short film that explores the cruel hardships faced by the country’s citizens. Written by Alexandros Moustas and Achilles Tsoutsis (the former stars in the film and the latter directs), the short film is also a poignant love story full of brimming hope and tender aching.

Moustas plays Louan, a recently married man whose monotonous future settles in on him pretty quickly, leaving him feeling forlorn. A chance encounter, then, with Nafsika (Popi Fragkakou) who also dreams of escaping her humdrum life in Albania and escaping to Greece, provides them with a spark of excitement as well as the beginnings of an escape plan - one which involves just A 10 Minute Swim.

Beautifully filmed and emotionally delivered, Tsoutsis knows how to immerse his audience into this story without veering too directly into the tragedy of it all. Whilst it is ultimately a sad story in a tumultuous period of history, with the authorities killing anyone who tried to flee the country and then subsequently sending their families to labour camps, it is the romance between our central characters which adds a great deal of depth to the proceedings and makes for a more rounded viewing experience.

This romance is brilliantly enhanced by two excellent performances. Alexandros Moustas plays the role superbly, capturing the passion of a young man looking into a bleak future, whilst Popi Fragkakou is absolutely brilliant as the curious yet unsure partner who can’t be. Their doomed tryst gives them plenty of scope for a myriad of emotions - fear, passion, excitement, anxiety - and the two performers navigate this terrifically. There are also some wonderful performances from the actresses playing Louan’s wife Teouta (Mikaela Kodra) and sister-in-law Erisa (Anastasia Ntaliani), a stand-out scene sees the two of them discuss the idea of Erisa going away to university and leaving Teouta “alone” with Louan. A smart use of a mirror in this sequence reveals Teouta’s own personal misery.

The locations are used really well, with lots of landscape shots revealing the loneliness of many of the characters and a picturesque seaside scene allowing for a moment of tranquil beauty to penetrate the otherwise gloomy existence of our characters.

Some audiences may feel a little robbed by the shorter running time. A lot happens to our central characters in a very short space of time and the impact is lessened. It feels like an important story and as such could have been justified to be given more room to breathe. If resources were an issue, time could have been traded away from the university subplot in exchange for more time with the escape attempt. That being said, if ever there was a proof of concept for a much-needed feature-length film, this short film is it. A powerful and gripping film.