Erenik Beqiri
Erenik studied at the Academy of Arts, Tirana where he graduated with a Master degree in Film Directing. His thesis was Seed Money, a short film written by Jim Uhls (Fight Club). He has participated in the Sarajevo Talent Campus as a Screenwriter, where he developed the short script Reverse which was produced a year later for the Sarajevo City of Film. Reverse collected awards for best film at the Drama ISFF and Cinematic Achievement award at Thessaloniki ISFF. In 2013 he wrote and directed the short film Alphonso that was screened in festivals such as Vancouver International Film Festival and Brussels ISFF. His next short film Bon Appétit was nominated for Méliès D’Argent at Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, selected as one of the Best European Short Films at the Haapsalu Horror and Fantasy Film Festival, and has been selected at South East European Film Festival. His last short film The Van opened in Cannes' Official Competition for Short Films in 2019 and is now travelling around the globe with more than 50 selections to date, including Sarajevo, Melbourne, Valladolid, Tangiers and Clermont-Ferrand. His films showcase the inner struggles of the characters as they confront with the socio-political space they inhabit, ultimately coming down to unsettling decisions that define them as comic, tragic or grotesque portraits of society. Erenik currently lives and works in Tirana, Albania. He's currently writing his first feature film.