Blerta Zeqiri

Blerta Zeqiri
NationalityKosovar
OccupationFilm director
Years active2004–present

Blerta Zeqiri (born 1979) is a film director from Kosovo. Her work primarily focuses on missing people and LGBT rights issues.[1]

Zeqiri was born in 1979 in Kosovo and grew up in Suva Reka.[1][2] As a teen, she was a hip-hop artist in Kosovo. In 1999, her and her family escaped a massacre in their hometown during the Kosovo War; Zeqiri subsequently immigrated that year to France, as a refugee of the war.[1][3]

In 2004, Zeqiri co-directed the short film "Exit".[2] She directed the short movie "The Return" ("Kthimi"), which was shot in three days and was about a couple that reunites after the Kosovo War. The film won the Jury Prize in Short Film, International Fiction at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012.[3][4] Her debut feature-length film, The Marriage ("Martesa"), was released in 2018 and focused on LGBT rights.[1] The Marriage was directed by Zeqiri and co-written by her and Kreshnik Berisha, her partner.[2] In 2018, Kosovo selected the film as their country's submission for the Oscars' best foreign-language film category.[5]

In 2019, she was awarded a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters from France.[1]

  1. ^ a b c d e Bami, Xhorxhina (20 November 2019). "France Gives Kosovo Film Director Top Cultural Award". Balkan Insight. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  2. ^ a b c Halili, Dafina (23 December 2017). "Blerta Zeqiri: Our Romeo and Juliet is love between people of the same sex". Kosovo 2.0. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  3. ^ a b Pond, Steve (6 July 2012). "Mumblecore Goes to Kosovo in 'The Return'". TheWrap. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  4. ^ "2012 Sundance Film Festival Announces Awards". www.sundance.org. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  5. ^ Holdsworth, Nick (4 November 2018). "Oscars: Kosovo Selects 'The Marriage' for Foreign-Language Category". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 10 November 2020.