KUSHTRIM KOLIQI

Kushtrim Koliqi (1984 – ). Human rights activist, theater, film director, producer, and professor. Born in Pristina, Kosovo where he also finished primary and secondary school. He studied theater directing at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Pristina, where he also finished his Master’s degree. He finished his doctoral studies at the South East University, Faculty of Languages, Cultures and Communications, North Macedonia. During his professional career, he was involved in theater productions at the National Theatre of Kosovo as well as in other local and private theaters. His most successful performances are: “For old times” (Kushtrim Koliqi), “Underground Man” (Hristo Boytchev), “Open Couple” (Dario Fo), “Closer” (Patrick Marber), “After Ms. Julie” (Patrick Marber), “The Merchant of Venice” (Associate Director, William Shakespeare), “Caligula” (Albert Camus), “I am my own wife” (Doug Wright), “La Rrem” (Arian Krasniqi), “Stiffler” (Doruntina Basha), “Father and father” (Jeton Neziraj), etc. As a director, he is known for avant-garde, brave, provocative, creative, politically/socially engaged, and innovative approaches. His theater performances are evaluated positively by critics and have been well received by the audience. His work has received many awards, among them the Annual Award for Directing and Best Performance in Kosovo for the year 2013. He was a board member of the National Theater. He is a member of the Executive Board of the Kosovo Association of Theatre Artists, he is chair of the board of City Theater Dodona, artistic director of Intent New Theatre, cofounder, and organizer of “Mirëdita, dobar dan!” Festival. He is also engaged as a director and producer in film and other media productions (TV series, TV productions, short films and documentaries, etc.). Most important among them is the production of a long cycle of narrative documentary films “People and memories talk” with stories of civilian victims of the war in Kosovo and throughout the region of ex-Yugoslavia which were broadcasted in 6 countries. He is also a publisher of different books, monographs, researches, articles, etc. K. Koliqi is also a professor and lectures subjects like Media Production, Theater Directing and, Theory of Directing and Acting. As a human rights activist, K. Koliqi since 2003 is Executive Director of Integra NGO, which is focused on the field of dealing with the past and transitional justice, war legacies, human rights, culture, civic activism, critical thinking and writing. His work is spread throughout the Balkans and Europe. Recently, through a collaboration between Integra and Casa, he was engaged in establishing and opening Barabar Centre in Prishtina.