BIO
BIO / DIRECTOR / AWARDS & SELECTIONS / PRODUCER / PRESS & REVIEWS / CONTACT

Dea Gjinovci is a Swiss-Albanian director and producer. Her films have premiered in prestigious international film festivals Tribeca Film Festival, Visions du Réel, IDFA, CPH:DOX, Hot Docs, DocNYC, Winterthur KurzFilmTage and many others... She is a Sundance alumna, a 2019 Film Independent Fellow and more recently participated in a residency at UnionDocs in NYC. Her cinematographic style blends poetic narration, magical realism and cinéma vérité. She won several awards including "Best National Film" at 2017 Dokufest, "Best new Talent" mentions at both ZagrebDox 2021 and Biografilm 2020. She is a member of the Swiss Film Academy since her "Best Documentary" nomination for Wake Up on Mars in 2022. Dea has held masterclasses and lectures at NYU-AbuDhabi, University of Geneva, Centro Frantz Fanon in Torino, Neo School in Prishtina and Dokufest Film school in Prizren. She has a BA(Hons) in Economics and Politics from SOAS, University of London and a MA in Ethnographic and documentary film from UCL, University of London. She speaks four languages: French, English, Italian and Albanian.
DIRECTOR
ODA
IN DEVELOPMENT
Réveil sur Mars
2020
Sans le Kosovo
2017
Dust Away
2022
Feature docu-fiction «ODA»
Directed by Dea Gjinovci
Produced by Astrae Productions and Haut et Court Doc
Supported by BAK (Switzerland) and la Ville de Genève
Short Animated Documentary «Dust Away» (11')
Directed by Tanita Rahmani and Dea Gjinovci
-UnionDocs Collaborative Studio 2021/22 (NYC)
World Premiere: Winterthur KurzFilmTage 2022
International Premiere: IDFA 2022
NA Premiere: DocNYC 2022
Feature documentary «Réveil sur Mars» (74')
Directed by Dea Gjinovci
Produced by Astrae Productions, Mélisande Films (France), Alva Film (Switzerland) in association with Amok Films
Executive produced by Heidi Fleisher and XTR
Co-produced by Radio Télévision Suisse & France Télévision.
"Wake Up on Mars" was awarded Sundance Documentary Fund grants
Short documentary «Sans le Kosovo» (23')
Writing, directing and editing
Produced in UK
Shooting locations: Italy, Croatia & Kosovo
AWARDS &
SELECTIONS
Réveil sur Mars
Sans le Kosovo
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World Premiere at Tribeca Film Festival 2020
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European Premiere at Visions du Réel 2020
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Awarded special Mention for Best New Talent at Biografilm 2020
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Awarded special mention for Best New Talent at ZagrebDox 2021
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Winner of the "Perspective d'un doc" award at Visions du Réel 2018 organized by Radio Télévision Suisse
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Awarded Impact Day Pitch Award at FIFDH 2019
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Nominated for "Prix de Soleure" and "Opera Prima" at Solothurner Tage 2020
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Selected and presented in more than forty festivals internationally
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Nominated for "Best Documentary" at the Swiss Film Awards 2022
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Best National Film Award, Dokufest, Kosovo, August 2017
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Winner of «L’Institut français» Prize, Festival Cine Zaragoza, December 2017
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Third Prize in the professional filmmaker category, Global Migration Film Festival, December 2017
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Global Migration Film Festival, December 2017
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This Human World, International Human Rights Film Festival, Vienna, December 2017
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Sole Luna Documentary Festival in Palermo, July 2017 and Treviso, September 2017
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Seanema Film Festival, Ulcinj, Montenegro, September 2017
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Paris Short Film Festival, Paris, May 2017
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International Film Market and Media Library, Visions of the Real, Nyon, April 2017
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Sheffield Festival’s Doc / Player, June 2017
PRODUCER
Red Herring
(working title)
Sisters Act
Materre
Français
Peace for Nina
In the Heat of the Cold Years
Red Herring (in post-production) feat. length documentary directed by Kit Vincent
Produced by Ed Owles
Co-produced by Dea Gjinovci
With the participation of France Télévisions and supported by the BFI Doc Society, Whickers Awards and the Sundance Documentary Fund
Participated in the Edinburgh Pitch, Sheffield Meet Market and IFP/Gotham
Sisters Act (in development) feat. length documentary directed by Dea Gjinovci and Antoine Goldet
Produced by Chachi Hauser, Dea Gjinovci and Antoine Goldet and co-produced by Contrast Films (Switzerland)
Supported by BAK, Field of Vision and Fork Films
Materre (in development) feat. length narrative film directed by Maxime Kathari
Produced by Chachi Hauser and Dea Gjinovci (Astrae Productions/CH) and co-produced by Thomas Lambert (Tomsa Films/FR) and Stayblack (Italy)
Français (in development) feat. length documentary directed by Hugo Sobelman
Produced by Emma Lepers (Haut et Court) and co-produced by Dea Gjinovci (Astrae Productions)
Peace for Nina (in post-production) feat. length documentary directed by Zhanna Maksymenko-Dovhych
Produced by Zhanna Maksymenko-Dovhych and Lyuba Knorozok (UA)
Co-produced by Dea Gjinovci (Astrae Productions/CH)
Impact producers: ThinkFilm
Awarded Impact Days Prize, FIFDH 2022
Ukraine in Focus selection, Marché du Film Cannes 2022
DocsBarcelona Market 2022
Supported by International Media Support (IMS), the Storyboard Collective and Swiss Films
In the Heat of the Cold years (in post-production) feat. length documentary directed by Darius Kaufmann and Eytan Jan
Produced by Amok Films in association with Kavad
Co-produced by Dea Gjinovci
Supported by Ciné+, CNC and Ile de France regional fund
PRESS &
REVIEWS
Variety
Variety
Cineuropa
Women & Hollywood
Kosovo 2.0
Brut (France)
TV Debate (France)
The Film Stage
Film Threat
The Hollywood Reporter
The Moveable Fest
Cineuropa
Universal Cinema
Indiewire
Visions du Réel
GET IN TOUCH
Reach out to me if you’re looking for :
- A director (non-fiction and commercials)
- A consulting producer (on fundraising, festival strategy and distribution, general feedback on pitch decks and rough cuts)
- A panel and pitch moderator
- A teacher/lecturer in documentary filmmaking