Albania's capital city, Tirana, is currently hosting the first ever edition of the Tirana International Film Festival (Dec 1-7), with a short film competition in fiction, documentary, animation and experimental categories.

The festival was initiated by its two directors, Agron Domi and Ilir Butka, and it is organised under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports of Albania.

Eighty-two films from thirty countries have been selected for the competition and will be judged by a three-member jury, made up of Cork Film Festival's director Mick Hannigan, local director Gjergj Xhuvani and French chief editor Luc Barnier.

Films in competition include Ukrainian animation, Tram Nr. 9 by Stepan Kovl, and previous Berlinale-award winner and local filmmaker Eno Milkani's touching short documentary, Abandoned Eden.

Awards will be given to the festival's best film, to the best film in each category, the best Albanian film and the audience film.

All prizes are accompanied by prize money of one to three thousand Euros.