Gjon Mili International Video Art Festival Reaches Its Closing Night in New York

After two highly successful nights of screenings at the Producers Club Theatres in Manhattan, the 3rd Edition of the Gjon Mili International Video Art Festival (IVAF) is preparing for its most anticipated moment: the Closing Ceremony at Dolby New York. Tomorrow evening, October 1st, the festival will honor the best works in international video art, experimental film, and documentary, announcing the winners before an audience of artists, critics, and cinephiles.

Over the past two nights, the New York public has been introduced to an impressive range of works that reflect the boldest voices in contemporary video art. The festival opened on September 27 with a day-long Jury Selection program, presenting experimental films and video art from Italy, the United States, Belarus, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Poland, Germany, France, China, and Australia. The screenings revealed a variety of themes—identity, memory, environmental reflection, and the poetic intersection of light, sound, and movement—true to this year’s festival theme, “The Skin of the Light.”

That same evening, audiences experienced two special Albanian screenings: Absence of 21 by Sara Tafaram, a seven-minute video artwork exploring silence and absence, and Alexander by Ardit Sadiku, a feature documentary that unfolds over 72 minutes. The night concluded on a lighter note, with a stand-up comedy performance by Romir Zalla, bringing humor and energy to the festival’s opening day.

The program continued on September 29 with another rich lineup of screenings. Highlights included Jeremy Drummond’s Monument (Canada/USA), The White by Violana Murataj (Albania), Path by Mauro Zaçe (Albania), Easter by Ksenia Yurkova (Austria), Palimpsest by Gentian Gjikopulli (Albania), and Bubbles by Meri Dishnica (Albania). These works reinforced the festival’s commitment to showcasing diverse cultural perspectives while spotlighting new Albanian talent on the international stage.

Now, all eyes turn to October 1st and the Closing Ceremony at Dolby New York, a venue known for its world-class sound and projection technology. The evening program will feature a final series of screenings:

• In Between (2025, Short Documentary, 13’) by Samir Karahoda (Kosovo)
• Cadillac and Blackberries (2022, Short Film, 17’) by Suela Bako (Albania)
• The Van (2022, Short Film, 15’) by Erenik Beqiri (France/Albania)
• Goin’ Down The Road (Video Art, 4:11) by Brian R. Donnelly (Canada)

The screenings will be followed by the announcement of the festival winners, recognizing the best works across categories such as Best Video Art & Experimental, Best Documentary, and Best Short Film. The awards will celebrate innovation, artistic courage, and the legacy of Gjon Mili, the Albanian-American photographer and artist whose pioneering experiments with light and motion photography laid the foundation for generations of visual storytellers.

Although the awards mark the formal closing of the competition, the festival continues. From October 2–4, the Producers Club Theatres will host a series of artist talks, Q&A sessions, and networking events, offering opportunities for dialogue and exchange between creators and audiences. These sessions are designed to deepen understanding of the works presented and to foster collaboration across borders, strengthening IVAF’s role as a meeting point for international artists.

With its presence in Korça, Dhërmi, and now New York, the Gjon Mili International Video Art Festival has grown into a truly global platform, uniting diverse artistic voices while honoring its namesake’s spirit of experimentation. As the festival reaches its conclusion at Dolby New York, anticipation builds not only for the winners to be revealed but also for the new artistic connections and conversations that will carry forward beyond this edition.