Director Izer Aliu joins us for a screening and discussion of his 2016 film Hunting Flies. In this political metaphor about the rise and fall of dictatorship, set in a classroom in Macedonia over the course of one intense day, idealistic teacher Ghani discovers that he’s lost his job on the very first day of school. In an attempt to get it back, he locks his students inside the classroom, and forces them to resolve a generation-long conflict between their villages.
As the day unfolds, principles are forced up against necessity — how long would our beliefs of any kind stand intact when we are forced to choose between them and our livelihood? (Norway, 2016)
Following the screening, Izer Aliu will present a Q&A. This event is presented in collaboration with the Albanian Institute in New York.
About the Director
Izer Aliu (b. 1982) is a Macedonian-born Albanian who grew up primarily in Norway and Sweden, and is now a Norwegian citizen. Since graduating from the Norwegian Film School at Lillehammer in 2012, he has made films in various places in the world. His student film To Guard a Mountain dubbed him one of ten Nordic directors to watch, and he has been nominated for the Student Academy Award and been winner of several other national and international awards.
Hunting Flies (2016) is a low-budget feature film which he made on his own initiative, a spontaneous project which taught him a whole lot about how things function when you finally have a film on your hands. His next feature film, 12 Dares, is a co-production between Sweden and Norway.
September 28, 2019
September 28, 2019