Review of Tomka and His Friends

I am so grateful to the Turner Classic Movies (TCM) channel for showing this rarely seen 1977 masterwork on October 20, 2020 as part of its presentation of Mark Cousins' documentary series Women in Film: A New Road Movie through Cinema. Wondrous performances from the children especially. The framing, the mise-en-scène, are astonishing. And a small dog also has a role which might have earned a "palm dog" if this had been a selection of the Cannes film festival. (There's also a large black guard dog. Even a goat gets in on the act.) At the time of production Albania was a closed society and nowhere on the world cinema map. So all the more remarkable.