The videos of the first season of # Love # Likes # Tirana are no longer available on the YouTube channel "Anabel Entertainment" because the production has decided to broadcast them on a paid platform. In an Instagram post, producer and creator Dalina Buzi wrote that "the decision was made based on the current situation" and that "they need to find alternative ways to finance future film productions."
Payment - which will be very reasonable - is a form of contribution for other future projects, the implementation process of which has been hampered since the November 26 earthquake and the pandemic of Covid-19.
Full statement:
"Dear friends,
Many ask us where the #LLT videos on YouTube disappeared! After almost 10 months of free broadcasting, # Love # Likes # Tirana will soon switch to a paid platform. We made this decision based on the current situation and the fact that we need to find alternative ways to finance future film productions like the rest of the world, understanding the problems that our sponsors will face in the future, from the crisis. The price will be very reasonable and any income will go to the production of film projects that we have ready, whether a fantastic film, as well as the series # Love # Likes # Tirana or another in the following. We don't like to cry, but we don't like to lie. We, the creators in this poor country like Albania, play with the windmills. The second season of #LLT, which is fantastic and 30 minutes of series, to be done with maximum quality costs a minimum of 300,000 euros.
So far, we, from our really small company, only with the support of sponsors, have brought you about 40 hours of content, a mini-series, sketches, new realization concepts, we have promoted new figures and we have tried to be on top with correct information and fun.
But the earthquake and already this situation has made the process a bit more difficult (because entertainment is punished first) and we are lucky that we did not start working for @ LLT2, that despite the fact that you love it very much, with what happened and with the sudden withdrawal of some sponsors due to the blocking of their activity from ?As in Life?, for us it would be a catastrophic loss and worse, we would not be able to produce anymore.
You have to understand that in this country we independent artists are aliens. For example at this time the quarantine of economic insecurity, we are working on a film project. But since Anabel is built on the concept of sincerity and communication, we feel it is our duty to explain things that you don't have to know. We will definitely not stop producing fun things, as in the first place we satisfy our soul, but everything has its time and your support is very important. We love Albania very much, but for the creators, as much as this place (as a laboratory that is) gives you, so does exhaustion. The reason why there are not many Albanian serials on TV with budgets 10 times our cost is.
So when you see the announcement next week for #LLT for a fee and other ongoing products, don't call it an "introduction" but a contribution. We creators do not dream of salons because we know where we live and we are not happy with a 3-storey villa, because we enjoy a computer, camera and mounting point, but we dream of continuing to work and have the financial opportunity to make projects even more quality in directing / audio / photography / content in the future. It is true that our call for contribution is not a call for bread, but we believe that a nation without entertainment, art and culture is equally poor. Thank you!"
#LLT, as the producer Dalina Buzi said in an interview for Anabel.al, addressed the daily affairs of Tirana, a Tirana that is very little portrayed in cinematographic / television productions. "It is Tirana of love, separation, family problems, career, Tirana (also) of a modern mentality. Tirana where people seek themselves and each other, "said Buzi.
A subject that was born as a love triangle, then turned into double and triple lines, gradually removing the focus from the protagonists Zoi-Clyde-Luna. In #LLT, the characters are put into function and revealed through each other. Their character is revealed by and through others; they are not ?photographed? in their habitat, but in the relationships they create. The construction of the whole subject does not focus only on the protagonists as in one way or another, the characters have almost the same weight.
#Love #Likes #Tirana gave up using the cliché scheme: Romance and drama between a boy and a young girl. Of course such a relationship stands, but #LLT brought at the same time the example of platonic love (Iris-Erion), love within the same sex (Jenny-Sara), remote love (Ledia-Landi), hasty love ( Lina), impossible love (Elio-Zoi, Luna-Clyde). The weight given to each was almost equal.
After the broadcast of the final series, on July 2, 2019, # Love # Likes # Tirana gathered positive criticism regarding the development line of events, perception of situations, treatment of delicate issues and other innovations.