Kujtim Cashku

When asked about the effect of HRAP on him, 1993 Advocate Kujtim Çashku of Albania reported that HRAP provided him “another angle to see the world.” Çashku, a film director and screenwriter, has used his experience with HRAP to expand the importance of human rights through film and in his home country.

Some of Çashku’s notable works include Kolonel Bunker, a story about the communist regime in Albania, and Magic Eye, a story about manipulation in the media today. Both films have won several international awards and been recognized at film festivals throughout Europe. Kolonel Bunker was also submitted as the Albanian film to be considered for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. Çashku directed the documentaries, The Tears of Kosova and Equinox.

According to Çashku, HRAP teaches participants a “new perception of time, power of selection and priorities, [and] culture of dialogue.” When not making films, Çashku serves as Rector of the Academy of Film & Multimedia MARUBI, which he founded in 2004. The school is the first university for film and television education and training in Albania and brings together students from throughout the Balkans.

Combining his passions for film, education, and human rights, Çashku acknowledges that through his participation in HRAP has assisted his work by helping to create the first International Film Festival of Human Rights in Albania in 2006, a cultural platform for the dissemination and awareness-raising on human rights issues. The festival, which is held annually at the MARUBI film school, will celebrate its 13th anniversary in 2018. Çashku also founded the First Albanian Forum of Human Rights (Albanian Helsinki Committee). In addition, he holds the titles of Member of the European Film Academy, Chevalier de L’ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France), and the Orden del Merito Civile (Spain). He also holds the Doctor of Letters from Utica College in New York.

—Article composed by Andrew Richardson, Program Assistant, July 2010.

—Updated by Claire Kozik, Program Assistant, Summer 2018.