The first public showing to occur in Albania was a little known title, Paddy the Reliable; a comical story detailing the afterlife events of a man who was so distracted by trivial matters that he was unable to attend his own funeral. These showings began in the cities of Shkodėr and Korēė; these showings were of foreign films. The first Albanian films were mostly documentaries, the first film being about the Monastir Congress that sanctioned the Albanian alphabet in 1908.

After World War II, the communist government founded the Albanian Film Institute in 1945, which became Kinostudio Shqipėria e Re in 1952. This was followed by the first Albanian epic film, Skėnderbeu, a cooperation with Soviet artists chronicling the life and fight of Albanian national hero Skanderbeg. The film won an award from the Cannes Film Festival. Two other known films from the time are Fėmijėt e saj (Her sons) and Tana. Tana is known as the first Albanian movie, and also as the first movie that has a kiss scene in the history of the Albanian movies. For more here!

During the 1990s, the change of the communist form of government to a more democratic one led to a big change in the Albanian cinema. The big conglomerate Kinostudio of old was broken up into several smaller studios, movies started to be produced in private studios by the old directors and even some foreign ones, but in conjunction with the new National Center of Cinematography (Qendra Kombėtare e Kinematografisė). For more here!