Roland Sejko ’s doc “A State Film,” culled from a vast archive of official footage made under the regime of Albanian strongman Enver Hoxha, is a fascinating study in the power of image and myth.

Screened in the main competition at the Czech Republic’s primary annual nonfiction film event, the Ji.hlava Intl. Documentary Film Festival, the compilation of carefully constructed images for the masses contains much to unpack, says Sejko.

“I’ve been working for several years with propaganda film archives — first with Istituto Luce Cinecitta, and also with the archives of the Albanian communist regime,” Sejko says. “Both contain thousands of films created to construct a political narrative, often with striking cinematic ambition.”

The genre is one Sejko explored in his previous film, “The Imag

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