Director and lecturer Joni Shanaj revealed in “This Week” on News24 that he has been subject to various forms of pressure and threats, while emphasizing that they have also affected his family.
Shanaj said that statements have also been made against him related to threats to his life, but he said that he does not feel afraid and that he will not back down from his stances.
“I have received various forms of pressure, threats. There have also been public references to threats against my life. I am not afraid,” he said. The director indicated that pressure can also be exerted through his parents, directly mentioning actor and pedagogue Mevlan Shanaj and his mother Natasha.
“The pressure can also come through my parents.
And this is something that can be used to attack me,” said Shanaj. He said that he has been a lecturer at the University of Arts for 12 years and that one of the issues he has raised concerns about is related to the new draft law on cinematography. “I have been at the University of Arts for 12 years, I am a lecturer and a critic.
“I cannot help but speak out when I see that a law that directly affects the field in which I work is being drafted without real professional consultation,” said the director. Shanaj claimed that the process of drafting the draft law was not transparent and that the Albanian Filmmakers Association was not sufficiently involved in the consultations.
At the end of the interview, he demanded that the justice institutions investigate the developments in the cinematography sector over the past few years. “BKH and SPAK should see what has happened in cinematography over the past 25 years. Corruption is not only when money is stolen. Corruption is also when meritocracy is lost,” declared Joni Shanaj.