Tomor Selenica

The film follows my grandfather, Tomor Selenica, and my great-grandfather, Alush Lleshanaku, who both suffered through Albania’s communist regime: one escaped a political prison while the other fought with an anti-communist resistance group. As a first-generation Albanian American, I grew up hearing fragments of their stories, but they were often whispered and incomplete. Through this project, I am piecing together those fragmented stories to reclaim both my family’s truth and a buried part of Albania’s history. The film is an exploration of how dictatorship shaped generations, turning memory into resistance and storytelling into healing. By revisiting the past through archives, testimonies, and personal narrative, “A Journey to Freedom” seeks to give voice to those who were silenced and to understand how the struggle for freedom continues through remembrance.