Bekim Lumi, a director and university professor, passed away. He was born in Suharekë (Kosovo) in 1966. He completed his primary education in his hometown, while his secondary education in Prishtina. He studied literature and Albanian language at the Faculty of Philology at the University of Prishtina (1991), and he completed his studies in theater direction at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Tirana (1996). In 1998, he founded the “Loja” theater in Munich (Germany), where he began working as a director. He later staged performances at the “Dodona” theater and the National Theater of Kosovo. In 2006, he founded the magazine for theater “Loja”. In 2009, he established the independent theater in Prishtina, named Theater Laboratory “Loja”. From 2002, he worked as a theater direction professor at the Faculty of Arts (branch of dramatic art) at the University of Prishtina. At the “Dodona” theater, he staged the performances “Mësimi” (2002) and “Galani” (2003). He continued with performances at the National Theater of Kosovo: “Shtëpia e Bernarda Albës” (The House of Bernarda Alba) (2006), “Çifti Martin” (The Martin Couple) (2008), “Nana dhe fëmija” (The Mother and the Child) (2015). Meanwhile, at the “Loja” theater, he created performances such as “Këmisha e gjakut” (The Blood Shirt) (2010), “Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit” (The Code of Lekë Dukagjini), “John Cage’s Hamlet” (2015), etc. With his performances, he represented Kosovo at several international theater festivals, in the region and beyond, where he was honored with various awards: at the International Theater Festival (2006) in Lugano (Switzerland), the performance “Mësimi” won the award for the best performance; at the International Chamber Theater Festival in Vratza, Bulgaria (2011), the performance “The Martin Couple” won the award for the best musical performance, while the performance “The Blood Shirt” received special recognition at the International Theater Festival “MESS” in Sarajevo (2012). In 2016, for the performance “John Cage’s Hamlet”, he received the annual award for the best direction from the Ministry of Culture of Kosovo for the year 2015. (In the photo: Bekim Lumi)
Text: Encyclopedic Dictionary of Kosovo – Vol. II , Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo, Prishtina, 2018, page 1007–1008.
Photo: © https://www.kultplus.com/tag/bekim-lumi/page/2/
Graphic processing: AHCF
