IRIS ELEZI – Bisedë

BIO English:

Iris Elezi is the director of the Albanian National Film Archive and Vice Secretary General of the Executive Committee of FIAF.  Together with American archivist, PhD Regina Longo, Iris co-founded in 2012, The Albanian Cinema Project, an initiative to restore and promote the little known Albanian cinema.  Her acclaimed six-part Balkan documentary series UNDER CONSTRUCTION (2007) was broadcast on key regional TV’s with its episode “Disposable Heroes” recognized by Amnesty International, becoming part of the ‘Films That Matter’ screenings. Her feature film, BOTA (2014), garnered eighteen international awards, represented Albania in the 2016 Oscars and made the “Senses of Cinema: World Poll and BFI’s critics Sight & Sound Best Film of 2018 Lists.  Iris Elezi studied film theory and criticism, anthropology and women’s studies, before completing her film production studies at NYU in 2001.  She has extensive experience teaching in higher institutions worldwide, has conducted masterclasses with Francis Ford Coppola, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Mark Cousins and has been a juror in film festivals like Karlovy Vary, DOK Leipzig and DokuFest.