Besim Sahatçiu (; 2 October 193520 October 2005) was a Kosovo-Albanian director of theatre and film.

Biography

After finishing gymnasium in Pejë, Sahatçiu studied literature at the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade ( sr, / ) is a public university in Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-ba ...

. Following the interruption of his studies due to compulsory military service, he worked as a

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

for the publisher, ''

Rilindja The Albanian National Awakening ( sq, Rilindja or ), commonly known as the Albanian Renaissance or Albanian Revival, is a period throughout the 19th and 20th century of a cultural, political and social movement in the Albanian history where the ...

''. He later studied at the Academy of Dramatic Art in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

, and defended his thesis with staging

Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; uk, link=no, Мико́ла Васи́льович Го́голь, translit=Mykola Vasyliovych Hohol; (russian: Яновский; uk, Яновський, translit=Yanovskyi) ( – ) was a Russian novelist, ...

's satirical play, ''

The Government Inspector ''The Government Inspector'', also known as ''The Inspector General'' ( rus, links=no, Ревизор, Revizor, literally: "Inspector"), is a satirical play by Russian dramatist and novelist, Nikolai Gogol. Originally published in 1836, the pl ...

'', at People's Provincial Theatre in

Pristina Pristina, ; sr, / (, ) is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city's municipal boundaries in Pristina District form the largest urban center in Kosovo. After Tirana, Pristina has the second largest population of ethnic Albanians an ...

. Sahatçiu's

ethnographic film An ethnographic film is a non-fiction film, often similar to a documentary film, historically shot by Western filmmakers and dealing with non-Western people, and sometimes associated with anthropology. Definitions of the term are not definitive. ...

, ''117'', won the Grand Prix at the Belgrade Documentary and Short Film Festival in 1978. The film was described as a “spiritual portrait of the nation.” As a

theatre director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

, Sahatçiu worked at the National Theatre of Kosovo in Pristina. In 2018, Kosovo's Ministry of Culture posthumously honored Sahatçiu with a Lifetime Achievement Award for Cinematography. The same year, a street in Pristina was named after him. In 2021,

Posta e Kosovës Post of Kosovo ( al, Posta e Kosovës, sr, Пошта Косова, ''Pošta Kosova'') is the company responsible for postal service in Kosovo. It is a subsidiary of Post and Telecommunication of Kosovo, Kosovo's largest telecommunications prov ...

issued

postage stamps A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...

in its 'Arti skenik – Besim Sahatçiu dhe Leze Qena' series, commemorating Sahatçiu and Leze Qena.

Filmography

*''Crveni udar'' (1974) *''Trimi'' (1975) *''Tito na Kosovu'' (1975) *''Gëzuar viti i ri'' (1976) *''Pehlivanët'' (1976) *''117'' (1976) *''Pasqyra'' (1977) *''Duke pritur Godon'' (1977) *''Era dhe lisi'' (1979) *''Tito e Kosova 79'' (1980) *''Tre vetë kapërcejn malin'' (1981) *''Përroi vërshues'' (1983) *''Lulepjeshkat e dashurisë'' (1988)

References

External links

*
Besim Sahatçiu
on

MUBI Mubi (; stylized as MUBI; The Auteurs before 2010) is a global curated film streaming platform, production company and film distributor. Mubi produces and theatrically distributes films by emerging and established filmmakers, which are exclusivel ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sahatçiu, Besim 1935 births 2005 deaths Kosovan film directors Kosovan film producers Kosovan screenwriters Albanian theatre directors Albanian film directors Albanian film producers Albanian screenwriters Albanian translators Rita Ora People from Peja Kosovo Albanians University of Belgrade alumni Academy of Dramatic Art, University of Zagreb alumni 20th-century translators 20th-century screenwriters