Filmmaker of the month - Albulena Shabani

Shabani is an Albanian from Macedonia that has been creating short films themed around the notion of women and voice. She often focuses work around marriage as a central anchoring point.  She is motivated to tell stories from a different lens by asking “what if”, and inverting tradition.   Her visual aesthetic is inspired by filmmakers such as David Lynch, Quintin Tarantino, Nuri  Ceylan, and Nadine Labaki. Furthermore, she has experience working with female musicians in various capacities both in the US and in the Balkans, adding to the notion of women and voice.  She holds a Masters in Cinema Art and Science from Columbia College Chicago and was a Fulbright Fellow in the arts.  She is currently pitching her first feature film project titled “United” and has written a science fiction pilot. 

FILMOGRAPHY 

Short films 

Knight in Passing (2011) 

Salt (2012)

The Dowry (2020)

Arranged (2021) 

Documentaries 

Trebled Times (2014)

Music Videos 

A River Doesn’t Struggle (2018)