In memory of actress Marika Kallamata (1930-2019)

Marika Kallamata (1930 – 2019)
Albanian Theater and Cinematography actress. Undoubtedly, she remains one of the prominent Albanian actresses.

The grandmother of fairy tales, the interpreter of many secondary roles, but which lined up the actress in the pantheon of cinema, was born in Fier on November 17, 1930. A kind of desire for acting was noticed as early as her teenage years in her hometown.

“In the choir, I didn’t do any better, neither for the first voice nor for the second because I was out of tune. However, if I was going to leave, the others would also leave right after me, because we were all from the same alley”, she tells about her beginnings in the theater near the House of Culture, where she was appreciated by teachers trained at the Normal School of Elbasan.

In the 50s, she would make the final choice, she left Fieri and her job as a kindergarten teacher, to come to the capital once and for all. She recited in front of the “Teatri Popullor” commission, in front of Andrea Malo, Mihal Popi, Andon Panos and other names heard in the art of the time.

Kallamata would start her career in this theater in 1950. It was decided that this special temperament, adapted for character roles, would be on probation for two years and she would be paid according to the roles (sometimes even the royalties were forgotten) because at that time “the roles with weight, those that gave you the opportunity to explode”.

Marika Kallamata gave exams together with Margarita Xhepa and Drita Agolli. It was not yet the time when dramatic art graduates approached the theater.

So she studied for four years at the Artistic Lyceum together with other artistic troupes from the Army, Song and Dance Ensemble, Philharmonic, Opera Theater and Ballet, the Puppet Theater, that someone had left school at graduation, one or two years, or actresses like Liza Vorfi, Behije Çela who had left their studies halfway through because they had become mothers. The only one with full education was Drita Pelinku, who had studied pedagogy.

In this theater she would perform a series of roles such as the plays “For those who are in the sea”; the bride in “Our Land” directed by Pandi Stillu, where she performed alongside Marie Logoreci and Loro Kovaci, in “Arturo Ui” she played the role of a husband; the Japanese woman in “On the Other Side”, the villager in “The Rise and Fall of Comrade Zylo”, “The Prefect”; “Kremlin Hours”; “The man with the rifle, etc.

She stands out in the role of the maid in Goldoni’s comedy “Mirandolina”. The role that will make her famous will be that of “Teto Aspasia” in the comedy “Carnivals of Korce” by Spiro Comore in 1964. While in the cinema, she will start in 1957 in the first Albanian short film “Her Children”, then she was Gjergji’s mother in “Guerrilla Unit”, Xhemilja in “Girls with red ribbon”, Nora’s mother in “Students of my class”, Drita in “Endless words”, also played in “Toast of my wedding”, “Dream for a chair”, as well as in the movie “Nje baba teper”.

She returned to the theater to perform after retirement, in “Shelter of the Forgotten” in 2004. Kallamata performed about 60 roles, among the most successful are: Ortensia, Aspasia, Mara, Soothsayer, Nina, Ana, Nekija, and in several episodic roles she has been a very good actress. Even though she was surrounded by dozens of successful actresses, Marika maintained her individuality.

Marika retired in October 1985, but she did not leave the stage. She was honored with the title “Merited Artist”.

In June 2013, she finished writing a book entitled “Dear colleagues”, a book of verses or poems dedicated to the colleagues with whom she worked. Something more about this book, we would say that she started writing it as early as 1967. She, through descriptions or verses, has described the characteristics of the luminaries of the Albanian stage art, including about 55 characters that are called irreplaceable in Albanian acting.

Among them, she described Naim Frashëri, Pjetër Goka, Violeta Manushi, Sandër Prosin, Marie Logoreci, Drita Pelingu, Lazër Filipin, Kadri Roshin, Sulejman Pitarka, Besa Imam, Ndrek Lucë, Prokop Mima, Kadri Roshin, Tinka Kurtin, Pirro Manin, Robert Ndrenika, Roland Trebicka, Roza Anagnosti, etc.. every time Marika saw her friends in roles, she tried to portray them.

But her inspiration has also come at the time of birthdays such as: Liza Vorfi, Drita Pelingu, Lazër Vlashi, Lazër Filipi and many others.

Marika Kallamata passed away at the age of 89 on December 22, 2019.

Cinematography: 

1957 — Her Children…….The Villager
1969 — The Guerrilla Unit…….George’s Mother
1972 — Conscience…….The Mother of the Sick Boy
1972 — The Captain …….The foreman of the masons
1976 — The last winter…….The old woman
1978 — The girls with red ribbons….Xhemilja, the caretaker of the dormitory
1978 — From the middle of darkness……Mother Hajria
1978 — When the foundations were laid (TV movie)……..Havaja
1978 — My wedding toast……Xhiko
1978 — There is life in the snowy forests……cook
1979 — Radio station…..Fortune-teller
1979 — In our house……Vasili’s wife, Stefi’s neighbor
1979 — We came from the war…. .Mejidja
1979 — Face to face….Xhemal Struga’s wife
1981 — When a movie was being shot…..
1983 — Apassionata….Arturi’s aunt
1984 — Students of my class…. .Nora’s Mother
1984 — Dream of a Chair…..
1986 — The Mistake……Grandmother
1986 — Difficult Start…Zana`s Mother
1986 — Endless Words… Drita
1986 – When the doors of life open… Bardhyl’s mother
1987 — A long year…….the hospital orderly
1990 – Years of waiting….one of the villagers
2000 — An extra father (Film TV) …. Filomena

Teatri
“The Stranger” by Nazim Hikmet
“On the other side” by Bajranov…..Japan – 24/04/1957
“Carnivals of Korça” by Spiro Çomorra….Teto Aspasia – 21/03/1959
“14 year old groom” of A. Z. Çajup – 23/01/1964
“Our land”…..The bride 
“Perkolgjinajt” of Kola Jakovo 27/03/1966
“Friends” of Bashkim Kozeli….Grandmother 12/11/1966
Besim Lëvonja’s “The Prefect” ………. – 13/02/1969
“A bride for Stasi” by Teodor Laço – 04/06/1969
“A short winter” by Sheri Mita – 02/04/1971
“Smoke that clears” by Zisa Cikuli – 05/23/1971
“Arturo Ui” …… (plays a role of a man in one of the performances of this theater)
“Crawfish” by Shefqet Musaraj – 09/11/1974
“The dream of that winter” by Teodor Laço…..
The miller’s wife – 13/04/1976
Ruzhdi Pulaha’s “Communists”…..Plaka Rufe 03/05/1977
“The rise and fall of Comrade Zylo” by A. Qesari ……Peasant – 16/10/1981
“The house with two gates” of Ruzhdi Pulaha – 31/03/1983
“Tomorrow is late” by Ruzhdi Pulaha – 08/11/1984
“Shelter of the Forgotten” by Ruzhdi Pulaha – 23/12/1987
“Trojans” by V Theodoropoulos……..Queen Margarita — /– /2004 –
“Lightning in the clear weather”…….The maid – 25/12/2008

Awards:

20 November 1984 Merited Artist

30 September 1982 Order “Naim Frashëri” First Class

Published on Facebook on the page with the same name as in November 2013 and revised in the following years.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.577156882344184&type=3&comment_id=998674580192410

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Albanian Cinematography in activity since 2013

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