The Albanians of Rrogam

Synopsis

With the fall of the Stalinist regime in Albania, one of the poorest countries in Europe, the people of a remote mountain village, Rrogam, are faced with the dilmma of how to re-allocate the land and flocks after 40 years of collectivism. For the first time they have to make their own decisions in the face of an uncertain, changing future, and eke out an existence without the direction from above to which they have become accustomed. Rrogam is a small Catholic village more than 3,000 feel above sea level in Northern Albania. Closed to foreigners since the second world war, the Disappearing World team were the first outsiders to fully explore this area in the north. Traditional Northern Albanian society stressed honour and etiquette. Today these traditional codes have been replaced with Albanian law, effecting the Rrogamis deeply. But Northern Albanians still follow their own rules for interpersonal relations and stick to traditional behaviour when it does not conflict with new Albanian law.