Besnik007

Besnik Hasanaj is a photographer and filmmaker living and working in Mitrovica, Kosovo. Photography is his childhood passion: he began taking pictures when he was six years old. When he was ten, he joined local school and city photo clubs. As a teenager, he was awarded several national videographer awards. Between 1995 and 1999 he worked as a videographer in Germany. In 1999 he returned to Kosovo and found employment as a freelance photographer and video maker. Since that time he has had five personal photo exhibitions in Mitrovica, and has participated in more than ten collective exhibitions. He has photographed for every newspaper in Kosovo as well as “M Magazine,” a local publication, and his photos have also appeared in international publications. In 2004, Besnik Hasanaj traveled to Norway to be trained in conflict zone reporting techniques at the Nansen Academy in Lilihammer, where he joined their network of journalists from the ex-Yugoslavia. In 2006, he completed the Film Documentary Master’s course with the Kosovo Institution for Journalism and Communication. He has also fulfilled his certification with the Reuter’s Foundation and North Photo Agency in Hungary. He continues to work as a freelance photographer and cameraman. In April he opened his first international photo exhibition in Korq, Albania.