Izer Aliu is a new up-and-coming director, mastering cinema in a way that makes film lovers everywhere hold their breaths. His short film, To Guard a Mountain, is now honored with 11 different awards. 

© mainstream.dk

Macedonian born Aliu graduated from the prestigious Norwegian Film School in 2012 with his film To Guard A Mountain as his main project. Prior to this, he also gained a vast academic background in motion picture and international affairs from two different universities in Sweden. His talents led to him being chosen as one of th eTop 10 best directors by four major film magazines throughout the Nordic region.

A small crew of 14 students and 20 local employees of Radusha, Macedonia, helped create To Guard A Mountain, in collaboration with the Macedonian film industry. It was the school’s first graduation project shot abroad.

“We choose to work as authentically as possible,” Aliu stated in an article for Aftenposten. “Therefore, the filming was here in Radusha, and we used local actors. They are used to this mountainous terrain. It was also important that they speak Albanian in the local dialect. Had they talked in standardized Albanian, it would have seemed artificial.”

In To Guard A Mountain, Isa the shepherd must obey when his father commands him to find a lost lamb. On top of the mountain, his little brother and companion, Hamid, gets injured. Isa must decide whether follow his orders or his instinct.

© imdb.com

The short film has won 11 different awards:

2012 National Film Award Amanda for Best Short Film

2012 Den norske student film festivalen: Best Cinematography

2012 Bergen International Film Festival: Best Norwegian Short Film

2013 Minimalen Short Film Festival: Honorable Mention

2013 AsterFest – International Short Film Festival: Best International Short

2013 Tetova International Film Festival – ODA: Best Direction

2013 The Norwegian Short Film Festival: Gullstolen – The Golden Chair Award for Best Short Film, The Writers Guild of Norway’s Award for Best Screenplay: Timeglasset – The Hourglass

2013 CinEast-Central and Eastern European Film Festival: Audience Award for Best Short Fiction Film

2013 Chicago International Children’s Film Festival: Adult Jury Prize – 1st Prize Live Action Short Film

2013 Rencontres Henri Langlois Festival International des Ecoles de Cinema, Poitiers: Student Jury’s Prize, Jury’s Special Prize

2013 Festival ZUBROFFKA: Best Cinematography

The short film has also been nominated for an Academy Award, in the Foreign Category for the 40th Annual Student Academy Awards.

Izer Aliu is currently on a path for success. According to Kultplus.com, he is currently working on two projects. One is in post production right now: The Good Life, Over There, about a man in Oslo who illegally works in the construction field. It is expected to premiere in 2014. His second project, Hunting Flies, will be presented at various film festivals. It’s official premiere is due in early fall 2014, in Norway.

Meet Lorena Haliti, Miss Teen Idaho 2013. This Kosovar beauty was born in Berlin, Germany, and moved with her family to the United States at age 4. She has gone a long way since. On November 3, 2012, Haliti was crowned Miss Teen Idaho 2013 at Nampa Civic Center in Nampa City, Idaho. The crowning was unreal for Haliti who stated that, “It hadn’t hit me yet that I’m the Miss Idaho Teen USA, but it hit me when I saw the crown,” in an article by examiner.com.

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According to Worldshowbiz.info, Lorena Haliti strives to graduate from collage and become a lawyer, as well as model for Sherri Hill. Family and friends are important to her, as she loves spending time with them. Haliti looks up to her older sister, Erza Haliti who was crowned Miss Idaho 2011.

Don “miracle baby” Geci, is the swimming star of Lake View High School but the way to the top hasn’t been easy. Today, the talented swimmer has huge passion for science and wants to study the Universe.

© dnainfo.com

Ajtene Geci calls her son Don a “miracle baby.”

Don Geci nearly died several times as an infant from febrile seizures. That was when the now-16-year-old Lake View High School  junior’s family was escaping a war in Kosovo from 1998 to 1999 that would claim thousands of lives and create hundreds of thousands of refugees.

Ajtene carried Don, the youngest of her three children, for miles and miles through mountains, forests and rivers. The family — her husband Besnik, a daughter and two sons — survived four months in the wilderness before reaching neighboring Macedonia.

There, they joined other refugees on their way to Iceland, New York and finally San Diego. When they arrived in California, they had less than $50 to their name and only the clothes on their backs.

Most of the family now lives in Lakeview — where Don Geci is his high school’s second-ranked student and aspires to be an astrophysicist. He is also Lake View High’s top swimmer, powering through the pool with the same determination it took for his parents to start anew in the United States.

© dnainfo.com

A Passion for Swimming and the Stars

After arriving in the U.S., Don never suffered a seizure again. He grew up in San Diego, learning to swim starting as a 4-year-old in neighborhood pools and the Pacific Ocean. He has loved torpedoing through the water since.

His affection for astronomy originated during a return trip to Kosovo when he was 10. Walking through a pitch-black forest at night, Don gazed at the sky and located the Milky Way, unblemished by any light pollution.

“I felt incredible emotions of awe and wonder when I saw it,” Don said.

[...]

Don’s teammates named him Lake View’s swimming MVP as a freshman and as a sophomore. He is a captain this year. “I look up to Don,” said senior swimmer Andriy Andrushchak, of Ukrainian Village. “He has very good leadership skills, he’s motivated, and he’s fun to be around.”

[...]

And while Don’s competitive swimming career likely will end after high school graduation, his dedication to science is just beginning. [...] “He has no limit on books,” she said. “If you go in Don’s room, everything is in order, and it’s all about science. You can look around, but you can’t touch his books.”

© dnainfo.com

‘My Goal Is to Study the Universe’

Don has a 4.85 grade point average on a 4.0 scale. He’s already taken advanced placement physics, chemistry, biology, world history and U.S. history. Next school year, he likely will add AP calculus, statistics, environmental sciences and psychology to that list.

[...]

…Don knows how much his family had to overcome for him to be able to live what he said is truly the American Dream. “Of course, I can’t understand what they went through, but I share grit with my parents,” Don said: “My parents’ goals were to establish a family in the United States. My goal is to study the universe.”

The original article was posted at dnainfo.com Click here to read the original article

Upon a meeting with the Albanian Diaspora in New York, House Representative of New York for 24 years now, Mr. Eliot Engel proudly explains his daily commitment to Kosovo. “Each and every working day at my office relates me back to Kosovo, be that with other legislators, ambassadors or other international representatives, all with the intent of strengthening Kosovo’s status within the international arena.”

© Illyriapress

Mr. Engel expressed great joy and pride towards Facebook finally accepting Kosovo as an official country, thus placing it among other member states within the global cyber community. “I had explained it to Facebook representatives that Kosovo is a legitimate state and it is recognized by more than 100 other countries” claimed Mr. Engel while quoting his commentary published last Thursday at the New York Times.

© Illyriapress

Mr. Engel has been continuously engaged with the case of Kosovo and its recognition since 1989, thus having the justifiable pride to his work.

The original article was posted at Illyriapress. Click here to read the original article

Have you ever wished for an easy and practical method to gather data? iziSurvey is the answer for those looking to collect data for surveys and market research as well as present the findings in an attractive and user-friendly way.  iziSurvey is an innovative software platform that offers the ability to easily create custom surveys with powerful features.  It was developed by former political science instructor professor Ridvan Peshkopia and former computer science professor Mergim Cahani, who met while they were teaching at Universum College in Kosovo.  Alejtin Berisha, College’s CEO and Edi Demaj, an entrepreneur from Detriot, Michigan are also part of the team.

The developers initially let several major companies and universities test the early version of iziSurvey, which received enormous positive feedback. This spurred them to seek the commercialization of the new promising product. As explained in a recent press release published on Yahoo! Finance, iziSurvey allows users to design their own surveys by using various question types and upload the data from mobile devices to the website, export them to Microsoft Excel format, or view visual analytics. Two additional features include the offline option of using the product as well as the random digit dialing (RRD) technology for cell phone surveying, which enables researches to fill the questionnaire on the same device from where the interviewer is calling with the help of a headset.

Kosovo Diaspora talked to iziSurvey CEO Mergim Cahani, who is optimistic about the potential of this service to revolutionize data gathering. In addition to the education and academic fields (professors, students, higher education administrators), iziSurvery is targeting marketing and research departments of various industries. Furthermore, “retail stores (restaurants, clothing, electronics, etc) are our target, where their customers can use iziSurvey to provide customer satisfaction feedback. iziSurvey could be used in a standalone mode (e.g., kiosk) at the door of a retail store,” said Cahani.

Cahani praised the environment in Kosovo, which is conducive for developing new products. He highlighted two advantages: the availability of talented and ambitious human capital and a pro-growth financial environment in terms of operations (cost and taxes). Although challenging, one can foster new ideas remotely even if parts of the team are in Kosovo and abroad.

When asked about ways to promote and utilize the IT/development skills of the young people in Kosovo, Cahani said:

“I think promoting higher education in Computer Science with a mixture of subjects with soft skills plays a key role. It seems that a substantial part of the young people in this field, focus on online MOOC courses, which is a great resource (I use them myself), but at times the passion to learn quickly and jump onto development, causes them miss the crucial parts of this field and ignore courses that so-may-seem do not provide immediate results. As such, often young technologists miss out on important subjects, during the self-learning process, like various mathematical subjects, discrete structures, and algorithms. Building new things takes time, persistence, and perseverance. Sometimes even after doing all of that, it may still fail. Refusing to give up is the path to success.”

We wish the team a successful launch of iziSurvey and a rapid embrace of this innovative product by professionals across different industries.

Rafael Lluka might have not been a public figure, however, a picture he took alongside the German Prime Minister Mrs. Merkel might have changed his social status, only if for a day.

© Albinfo.ch

While the picture has definitely sparked a great deal of attention, the story behind it is as coincidental and simple as it can be. Originally from Switzerland, Lluka happened to be attending a school excursion in Berlin, where the German Bundestag is located. Mr Lluka had decided to curiously examine the presence of many reporters thus “accidentally” finding himself at the right moment and the right place where Mrs. Merkel had happened to be getting out of her vehicle thus coming into contact with Mr. Lluka. As a youngster and opportunist, Rafael had politely asked Mr. Merkel for a “selfie” with his phone, thus snapping the “Most voted picture for 2013″ in Switzerlands “20 Minutes”.

The annual selection process is done in such a manner where readers of the “20 Minutes” are encouraged to post a picture and then urge other readers to vote.This year, there have been 12 competitors, within 5000 voters, Rafael managed to gain the vote from 1250 thus making his picture the best of 2013.

The original article was posted at ALbinfo.ch. Click here to read the original article

The famous Albanian ballet dancer, Eno Peci, gave a stellar performance during New Year’s Eve in the Vienna State Opera. Between his performances in Vienna shows as a solo artist and being a father to his lovely daughter, Eno depicts the true spirit of an everyday artist. 

© Casanova Sorolla

Eno was born and grew up in Tirana, Albania. At age of 13, Eno decided to learn how to dance and started his first dancing steps at Tirana’s dancing academy. Although Eno’s initial goal was to become a rapper, he decided to take another path on his career and spent four years taking dancing lessons at the ballet bar.

In 1998, Eno moved to Vienna and continued his dance training at a ballet school. Michael Birkmeyer, former solo dancer and chairman, saw Eno’s talent and started Eno dancing career in Vienna’s state opera. Eno enjoys playing funny roles in ballet but welcomes the role of villains as well. The diversity among different roles is thrilling for this young talent.

© uncoy.com

In 2000, Peci joined the Vienna Opera Theatre and in 2003 he was engaged as a soloist. Below is a video trailer to ‘Herzblume’, choreographed by Eno Peci

A Berlin based elementary school will soon be named after an Albanian idealist. Starting from this semester, the doors will carry the label of Mr. Refik Veseli, a dedicated hero and activist, who bravely saved members of a Jewish family throughout the second world war.

© Zeri

As a 17 year old, Refik Veseli found the courage to give shelter to a Jewish family from Yugoslavia which had fled to Albania. Veseli had kept in touch with the family long after the war, thus , today him and many other citizens of Albanian origin are honored with the “Just Human” title from the Hebrew organisations that promote and preserve holocaust remembrance.

The original article was posted at Zeri. Click here to read the original article

© Trailerseite.de

Bekim Guri and Kasem Hoxha are featured in the recent movie premier of “Nicht Mein Tag” throughout German movie theaters. “Nicht Mein Tag” or “Not My Day” has certainly made Kasem Hoxha’s day better when he realized that the character he was asked to play was by the name of Sokol, an Albanian in Germany, thus he had felt an instant connection with the character. “While reading the script, I found myself many times finding similar thought patterns with Sokol. (An unlikely match up, Sokol is a fictional character meant to portray a gangster with rather good traits such as courage and honesty.) He (Sokol) is a man of “Besa”, he keeps his word. However, through his hardships, Sokol is pushed into changing himself to respond unfair treatment” claims Mr. Hoxha for Deutsche Welle

“Acting Sokol, fortunately, came around very naturally. Sokol is not your typical gangster, his personality carries both sides of the coin, the good and the bad.” continues Hoxha.

Such collaborations with high caliber producers are essential to an actors career and thus, Kasem Hoxha is greatly appreciative of the opportunity to collaborate with Peter Torwarth and Axel Stein. Hoxha claims that the natural improvisations throughout the shoot have brought him closer to the cast and the character of Sokol as well.

Another upcoming gem that is expected to explore the Albanian diaspora in Germany is the movie “Golden” by the producer Bujar Alimani, where Kasem Hoxha will also star as a leading actor.

Such movies are essential at giving an insight within the diaspora community living abroad where often taboo topics and clash of ideals are brought into play to further enhance the discourse of identity creation and cultural assimilation.

The original article was posted at Illyriapress. Click here to read the original article

Kadri Bekteshi doesn’t stop. He is always on the move, enthusiastic about engaging Kosovo’s diaspora youth in intellectual activities. Although it has been some time, it is worth telling the story of a competition he organized.

This event consisted of Albanian classrooms competing against each other for intellectual glory, as well as raising awareness for the Albanian community in Germany. The diaspora in Germany has the potential to offer great things for Germany, Kosovo, and Europe as a whole. The Chair of the EU Foreign Affairs Committee, Elmar Brok, was present for the event. He was honored by the association Kosovo 81, lead by Kadri Bekteshi. Bekteshi always looks out for new opportunities to engage EU politicians in his social activities, especially when it may present new opportunities for the Albanian community in Germany. Mr. Brok stressed the importance of cherishing Europe’s cultural wealth and encouraged young Albanians to remember their language, culture, and traditions.

The competition covered several disciplines: Geography, Albanian grammar, society, literature and history. Out of nine schools, two schools currently share the first place, a school from Bielefeld and a school representing Viersen. Those ‘Albanian schools’ as referred to in this post, are small groups of Albanian students who attend German schools, and decide to additionally attend Albanian lessons after their regular school hours.

Mimoza Elezi might not be famous in Albania or Kosovo, however she is quickly becoming a recognizable face among the Albanian speaking diaspora in Turkey. Her latest show brings refreshing material to its audience, mainly bringing Albanian folk songs. Her aspirations however do not end with the show, she seeks to soon open up an Albanian language school in Turkey thus making her a big contributor towards preserving the culture. 

© KultPlus

Ever since her arrival in Turkey, Mimoza has been actively engaged in Turkish tv shows and movies. Mimoza did not stop with acting, she aspired to do more and this time she brought along the folklore and culture she so strongly identifies with. After her initial success with acting, she started a musical show where the majority of the songs presented are Albanian folk songs and epics.

In the following video one can see Mimoza present a North Albanian folk song and midst switch to speaking Albanian to properly greet her Albanian audience.

The original article was posted at KultPlus. Click here to read the original article

It had all started as an accidental occurrence, just as with other great thing, Ariana had decided to go into the construction industry by chance and behold, had managed to create a fortune. After quitting her job as a journalist among many Albanian newspapers in Switzerland, Ariana found herself in a crossroad, should she further her studies or start a business of her own? Apparently the latter proved to be the shining path.

© Zeri

“A friend of mine advised, she claimed that I could be a success story with my own business, you never know she said.” says Ariana with a proud smile on her face.

As with every great story, the begging is simple, so has Ariana Merlaku’s story began. With a simple conversation with her friend, a conversation that fostered the growth of a 80 employee strong company.

The career path that Ariana has chosen is not only difficult, at times it is considered as a wild adventure for a woman to enter the profession usually associated with men. Ariana might definitely be the only woman of Albanian descent to own her own firm, furthermore she might definitely be the only female in Cyrih engaged within the high ranking of the construction industry.

“It was all worth it”- claims Ariana while looking back at her success. A great number of buildings in Cyrih today hold the stamp of a successful construction by a female owned company. They proudly exhibit the success of a woman of rather exotic origin for the Swiss, that of Ariana’s Albanian heritage.

“Honesty and hard work always pay off” says Ariana as she tries to reminisce the begging of her success. “As an Albanian and a woman I was often seen as an alien in the field, as if something extraordinary. Simply, I was there at the right time and the right place to make new deals. At the beginning I was a little scared however later I dedicated myself completely and now we are having deals with growing demands and revenues”

To this day, Ariana still runs her company efficiently and keeps her passion for journalism. She had initially started with “Bota Sot” in Switzerland and gradually moved to being an editor for “Zeri i zemres”, “Rinora” etc. She is a continuous contributor among Swiss journals thus her return to Albanian based journalism is never seen as a lurk within foreign territory, it will always be seen as  a journalist looking to fulfill her life long passion.

Diaspora members such as Ariana are an inspirational story for many. Ariana not only manages to break gender based stereotypes, she proves that diaspora communities are willing to work hard and succeed within fields that many thought were unattainable before.

The original article was posted at Zeri. Click here to read the original article

Only Hekuran Krasniqi proved to be quick with his mind and feet at what was about to become a local tragedy when a young boy of three years found himself drowning on the icy Herrichried lake.

© suedkurier.de

None of the bystanders proved to be as brave as Hekuran when a three year old accidentally sled into the icy lake and quickly started drowning.  The 38 year old Kosovar decided it was up to him to jump into the lake and save the unknown child thus saving a precious life. Hekuran had been driving to his nieces birthday when he noticed a big crowd of people by the lake observing as the child held on a piece of ice in the middle of the lake.

“I noticed that the lake was not completely frozen and that there was a child at the center of it. None of the people around were intending to take any action since they were waiting for the firemen to come an intervene.  I saw the mother and her worry, she was helplessly waiting near the lake and asking people to save the child” explains Mr. Krasniqi.

Quickly, Hekuran noticed that precious time was passing by thus he decided to act. He went nearby and picked up a long ladder and organized the men to hold it still while he stretched it up to the piece of ice where the child was located. He got on top of the ladder and realized that his weight was pushing the ice further down. “The problem was that while doing this, my body weight was working against the plan, so I decided to jump into the icy water and reach for the kid”. Hekuran reached for the boy and held him with one hand, keeping his head above the water and swimming with the other. Words cannot express the gratitude on the mothers face, humble Hekuran only jokingly complained that he is now required to drink warm tea to avoid a possible cold. 

After everything went back to normal, Hekuran is happy that the boy survived the incident without any serious injury. “I am a father of two kids myself,I can only imagine the terror and suffering the mother went through that day…”

Hekuran Krasniqi has already become a local hero, thus bringing a positive contribution to the greater image of the Kosovar Diaspora in Europe. It is acts like these that prove once again that the Kosovar diaspora brings a lot more to the host country than the exotic names and rites, the diaspora proves once again that people are the same everywhere and that life is precious.

The original article was posted at Zeri. Click here to read the original article

Albulena Borovci is a costume designer experienced in film and theater projects in the United States and Kosovo. She finished her Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree in Scenography at University of Prishtina’s Academy of the Arts and also spent one year studying at the University of Montana.  She holds a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Costume Design from Carnegie Mellon University, where she was awarded the Bess Kimberly Fund Scholarship.  Only last year, Albulena received two prestigious awards: the USITT’s Zelma H. Weisfeld Design & Technology Award 2013 and the CSA’s (Costume Society of America) Early Career Award of Excellence in Costume Design & Technology 2013.

Albulena Borovci (Photo: James Knox | Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

Kosovo Diaspora talked to Albulena about her education, professional work and plans for future.  

KD: Tell us a bit about your background and how you ended up studying in the US?

My first time in the U.S. was through a work and travel program; it was summer and I was 19 years old. At such transitional and delicate age, meeting people of different cultures and backgrounds and being exposed to infinite options and opportunities broaden my horizon for the years to come. It was that summer that I could save enough to go see a Broadway show for the first time.

Thanks to an Open Society scholarship, I attended University of Montana as an exchange student. I took a lot of costume design classes that year and quickly learned that this medium was an incredible tool to bring characters to life!
During my one-year stay I found Montana very welcoming and the people incredibly hospitable and nice. I still keep contact with my host family in Montana and am eternally thankful for all their help and support.

Costumes designed by Albulena for “The Alice Project” play (Photo Credit Louis Stein)

KD: How was your experience at Carnegie Mellon University? 

I had interviewed with one of the faculty at Carnegie – who later became my mentor – on an early spring morning through Skype and had a great feeling about this school and their program. A couple hours later, I was incredibly happy to receive my acceptance letter from the School of Drama at Carnegie in their Costume Design program – one of the top programs in the country. I was so honored to be their pick! Carnegie Mellon was wonderful, hard, competitive and again wonderful. I felt supported from the faculty and teachers all the time. Due to CMU’s strong curriculum and exposure to a wide range of aspects in the design process, I was able to develop a portfolio, which qualified me for competitions and awards in the field.

Costumes designed by Albulena for the play “The Rivals” (Photo Credit Louis Stein)

KD: What projects are you working on now?

At the moment I am designing a new play called Sila, which will have its world premiere this April at the Central Square Theatre in Cambridge, MA. I am very excited to be designing this play since it carries an incredible message about our planet Earth. It deals with a hot topic in the last decades – the climate change and its effects on the human and animal existence. Sila is described as “the breath – the great life force”. It sure carries a powerful name.

KD: How do you see the art and culture scene in Kosovo?

It’s hard for me to answer this – my involvement in the art and culture scene in Kosovo, unfortunately, has been limited during my short visits in Kosovo. I am surprised, for the good, from our young generation of directors and artists. Regardless of all the difficulties that come with creating art in Kosovo, I am eager to collaborate and contribute on any opportunity that arises in the near future.

To find out more about Albulena and her work, visit her website at www.albulenaborovci.com

There is no stopping with Majlinda. The current world champion has just proved that once again, it will take more than just hard work to defeat someone of her ranking.

© zimbio.com

Majlinda Kelmendi was quick to break her opponent, with a stellar “ippon” , thus polishing the shine on her Gold Medal within the 52kg category within the Paris Grand Slam. The Kosovan warrior finished her duel in 1 min and 30 seconds, thus disabling her opponent Jaan Sundberg of any chance or wishful thinking towards grabbing the title away. Following this success, Majlinda has reinforced her status in the first place within World Judo Ranking.

To get the adrenaline going, the following is a video of her final battle at the Paris Grand Slam.

And the medal ceremony.

The original article was posted at Illyriapress. Click here to read the original article.

EVP- the Christian Party of Swtizerland has chosen Blerim Bunjaku as a suitable candidate for the city council of Winterhur. While that sentence might not strike you as odd, Blerim Bunjaku is a follower of Islam, whereas the EVP party is known for its efforts at emphasizing the Christian way of Swiss life and culture. Without a doubt, Mr. Bunjaku and EVP are an unlikely match that might just make it work.

© albinfo.ch

Blerim Bunjaku’s candidacy has without a doubt given the social and news media in Switzerland quite a buzz. Being a part of the Evangelical People’s Party (EVP) and a Muslim has brought Mr. Bunjaku much attention. Furthermore, the public and news media are not the only ones attracted to this issue, many members within the party have expressed strong feelings for and against his candidacy, thus making his struggle to success, ever more difficult.

“I am a proud Swiss, of Albanian origin, Switrzerland is my homeland.  My priorities are  set upon values and success. Thus, I represent the EVP party fully. I have joined this particular party due to the values it endorses, values that I consider are important for a healthy society: justice, love and respect.” – Mr Bunjaku was qouted during an interview for Blick.ch.

Bunjaku’s candidacy has sparked an ongoing debate from both the Christian and Muslim communities in Switzerland.  While the Muslim community argues that his candidacy does not represent their interests, the Christian chairman of the party claims that this is yet another way of the party accepting people of all walks of life. Mr. Bunjaku tries to encompass the many struggles and identities that he represents. Thus emphasizing the ongoing identity struggle that many minorities, the Kosovar diaspora including, undergo throughout their stay and engagement in Switzerland.

The original article was posted at Albinfo.ch Click here to read the original article.

Albanian priest Dominik Qerimi gathered 51,865 pine cones and created a wonderful piece of art! This piece has been recognized in the Guinness Book of Records.

It took Dominik Qerimi four years to gather 51,865 pine cones and 53 days to complete a gigantic portray of Albanian heroes Skenderbeg, Mother Theresa, and humanitarian Don Bosko. Qerimi is head of the Don Bosko center in Gjilan and received a certificate by Guinness representatives for his Mosaic of Norms, a piece 15 meters long and 7 meters tall.

On one of his Facebook posts, Qerim stated that he is not an artist but that he is simply in love with Christ. Everything he is and does is a result of an awe he has for this love.

Dominik Qerimi received the recognition for his piece of art on February 8^th, 2014 in an official ceremony in Gjilan. Even a new category was created for his piece of art: “Largest Pine Cone Mosaic.”

The original article was posted at Albinfo.ch Click here to read the original article.

Two Albanian candidates of SVP, Agim Tusi and Mentor Desku, so far have not been known to the public. While for EVP, is running Blerim Bunjaku.

© albinfo.ch

Today is voting day in Winterthur, Zurich. Voters in this city will make the decision for the municipal assembly. In all, 462 candidates aim to take the 60 available seats of the city parliament. Recent polls show that the Green Liberal Party (GLP) is expected to take the majority of the spots.

In the running for these seats are three Albanians. Furthermore, they have been nominated by two political parties that are not known to choose foreigners to represent them. Two of the Albanian candidates, Mentor Desku and Agim Tusi, are running for the Swiss People’s Party (SVP), well known for restrictive policies on foreigners. Blerim Bunjaku, running under the Evangelist Party (EVP) ticket, has become well-known to the Swiss public.

The two Albanian SVP candidates, are not as well known. Desku manages a restaurant in Winterthur, whereas Tusi works with vehicles. Unlike Bunjaku, who has actively campaigned throughout the city, the Albanian SVP candidates have not received much media coverage.

The original article was posted at Albinfo.ch  Click here to read the original article.

Edison Kelmendi is breaking though in the fashion industry thanks to his charming looks. Even though he is only 22 years old, Edison Kelmendi worked for the famous and recognized designers such as Versace and Guess. Kelmendi started his career in Switzerland where he is considered to be one of the most booked male models according to Fashionpistols.ch.

© joiz.ch

Edison Kelmendi is born in Gjakova from where he moved to Switzerland when he was only a year old. Kelmendi was encouraged to apply to a model agency by his father, an amateur photographer who loved taking photos of his son. Kelmendi got his first modeling job during the Fashion Days in Zurich where he gained his first runway experience. He still gets nervous before a show and he states in the interview that he believes that you lose the sense of fun for the profession once you stop being nervous before a show.

Kelmendi’s role-model is Jon Kortajarena about whom he says: “It is amazing how much he has already achieved.”

Kelmendi has been working all around Europe and is currently in New York for the New York Fashion Week. This dedicated young model aims for New York when he thinks of how far he can go in the modeling world. He hopes to be on the cover of GQ magazine one day and would love to walk for and be photographed by the famous Karl Lagerfeld.

© fashionpistols.ch

Kelmendi talked about his friendship with the photographer Fadil Berisha for the albinfo.ch. He says: “I do not have any concrete plans with Fadil Berisha although I appreciate him very much and truly value him as a man, especially for his creativity and a great passion for photography. I would like to pose for him because we have a very good connection besides being good friends.”

Follow Edison Kelmendi’s journey through social media: https://twitter.com/EdisonKelmendi

Nazlije Aliji, an Albanian girl from Presheva valley, who is 21-year old and lives in Switzerland where she moved after her mother passed away, began taking integrating classes under the tutorage of director Thommen as soon as she joined her father in the country.

© neuland-film.ch

She stars in one of Ms. Thommen’s documentaries as one of the two protagonists. The documentary – “Neuland”, by the young director Anna Thommen, featuring Nazlije and depicting a story of an integrating class of newly arrived young foreign students, has been awarded with the Public’s Award at the 49^th Movie Festival of Solothurn.

This documentary is Ms. Thommen’s graduating thesis at the Arts School in Zurich and has already received an award prior to the one at the 49^th Movie Festival of Solothurn, the biggest and the most competitive movie festival in Switzerland.

The summary of the movie plot:

Mister Zing is a teacher whole-heartedly committed to the integration of young people in Switzerland. He teaches them and leads them step by step, preparing them for a life in a new environment.

Nazlije, a 21-year old Albanian girl who goes to Switzerland to live with her father after her mother passes away, upon arriving meets a Pakistani Ehsnaullah. Together with other immigrants, she has to learn a new language and adjust to novel cultural norms within the next two years. They find out that Switzerland is a strict country that implements rules and laws from the very beginning.

The students, who are in Mr. Zing’s class, besides the strict rules they must follow and the changes they undergo, adore their teacher. He feels to them like the only person sincerely and fully committed to help them in their adventure.

The movie “Neuland” aims to fight prejudices such as the perception of all of the new immigrants as homeless, unemployed individuals who wander purposelessly on the streets and are potential criminals. The movie opens up and addresses the real question that underlines it as well: Do these young people really have a chance in Switzerland? It is an undeniable fact that many of these people do not succeed in putting together all of the puzzle pieces needed for success.

The 49^th movie festival “Solothurner Filmtage” closed its curtains on Thursday. The festival concluded by awarding the main judges’ prize “Prix de Soleure” to the movie “L`escale” by Kaveh Baktiari which also deals with the issues of emigrants’ lives. The festival was attended by 65000 visitors.

The original article was posted at Albinfo.ch  Click here to read the original article.