Several invited artists from Albania, Germany, and Romania will take part in this year’s edition of the Gjon Mili Video Art Festival, presenting works in animation, short film, video art, and virtual reality.
Renis Hyka from Albania will present the animated short film Animuze. Initially connected to literature and writing, he published the books Cadavre Exquis and Samsara before graduating from the Film and TV department of the University of Arts in Tirana. In 2022, he made his film debut with The Strange Case of Teresita.
From Germany, Aria Wolf will present the VR project Lichtung. She is currently studying Transmedia Games Directing at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, and her work combines film, animation, and interactive experiences. Lichtungwas selected for the VR category of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
The invited artists program also includes Ermir Keta with the short film THE CHAMP, Cătălina Gubandru with the video art work Expo Arbre Busteni_Pine Forest, and Gentian Gjikopulli with the film ZOUND.
Renis Hyka
Animuze
Short Animated Film
Albania
Renis Hyka was born in Tirana, on September 11, 1991. He had his first contact with art while writing small publications for the school magazines, creating a close connection with literature, that he later cultivated further.
Although he attended the University of Economics, he did not deviate his focus from literature and art, and in 2016 published his first book, Cadavre Exquis, a collection of short surrealist stories. Two years later he published his second book, Samsara, an existentialist drama.
In 2022, Renis Hyka graduated from University of Arts in Tirana, in the Film and TV department with high results. In the same year he debuted with this short film “The Strange Case of Teresita”.
Aria Wolf
Lichtung
VR / Virtual Reality
Germany
Aria Wolf (*1996) is studying Transmedia Games Directing at the Animation Institute of the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg since September 2024. She previously completed her Bachelor of Eng. in Audiovisual Media at Media University Stuttgart. During her studies, she directed several student productions, including the domestic violence prevention short film YASEMIN (2021), the documentary short film ROSA (2021), and the atmospheric game experience Sanguine (2022). Her most recent project, the VR experience lichtung (2025), was selected for Annecy Int. Animation Film Festival in the VR category. You enter a calm yet unfamiliar world, lying dormant as you arrive. As you explore its surroundings, the world gradually opens up, revealing its light. The more you engage with it, the more you become enveloped in a soothing yet lively awakening, full of surprises.
Ermir Keta
THE CHAMP
Short Film
Ermir Keta is a director and producer from Albania. He started his studies in the Academy of Arts in Tirana, but had to drop out in his second year due to the problematic situation created in Albania during 1997. These events led him to Milano where he started to study film direction in the Scuola di Cinema Milano. In 2001 he graduated with honors and presented his film Fatmir that was considered one of the best at his school being produced that decade. After his studies Ermir worked in some of Italy’s major TV stations, such as Rai, Mediaset, MTV and La7, in production houses such as Magnolia, Endemol, as well as in numerous domestic and international movie productions. His project Ristorante Multietnico was financed by the Italian Ministry of Culture as well as MEDIA Fonds. In 2010 Ermir cofounded Anima Pictures in Tirana. Anima has become the most successful production company in the country.
Catalina Gubandru
“Expo Arbre Busteni_Pine forest”
Video Art
Cătălina Gubandru is an independent artist, born and based in Bucharest, Romania. Originally a choreographer, she works with different concepts and artistic mediums including performance art, installation, photography, video, text, sound, drawing, painting, objects, participatory art. Her work is related to the body, spectatorship and space. She inquires about the body presence and absence, the performative act, the relation between the human body/bodies and perception in relation to things, objects, actions and surroundings, the relation with the audience. In recent years she has been combining work in nature and specific sites with performance and presence on stage. She develops her projects in national and international artistic residencies and presents them internationally in different contexts, events and spaces.
Gentian Gjikopulli
ZOUND
Short Film
Gentian Gjikopulli is an Albanian visual artist, filmmaker, and educator whose work spans painting, graphics, video art, screenwriting, and film. He studied painting and drawing at the “Jordan Misja” Artistic High School in Tirana and later graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Tirana, specializing in fresco and monumental painting. His artistic education was further enriched through workshops and postgraduate studies in Venice, Lausanne, and Marseille.
Since 1998, Gjikopulli has been teaching painting, drawing, and graphics at the “Jordan Misja” Artistic High School, while also working as a graphic designer, copywriter, and post-production instructor. He has participated in numerous collective exhibitions in Albania and abroad, including exhibitions in Switzerland, Italy, Greece, and the National Gallery of Arts in Tirana. In 2014, he presented his solo exhibition “Symbiosis… a not so personal exhibition” at the FAB Gallery of the University of Arts in Tirana.
In recent years, his artistic practice has expanded into filmmaking and screenwriting. His films and video works have been selected and screened at international festivals across Europe and the United States, including TIFF – Tirana International Film Festival, Balkan Panorama Film Festival, Sofia International Film Festival, and the Gjon Mili International Video Art Festival in New York. His screenplay projects have also received international recognition in competitions such as Raindance Script Competition and WriterDuet Screenplay Throwdown.