TIRANA, June 2 – The Albanian and Serb Prime Ministers have paid tribute to late Kosovo actor Bekim Fehmiu whom they say has left irreplaceable marks in the tensioned Albanian-Serbian relations. In a joint statement on the 80th birth anniversary of the Albanian-Serb artist, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic say “Fehmiu’s life and art testifies that we can communicate, understand and learn from each other and can find happiness and co-existence, building a bright future for the next generations.”
“Bekim Femiu today stands in front of us as a witness of an undeniable fact that whichever life path we choose to stand together, that path will be nothing else but richness for us, Albanians and Serbians,” read the joint statement by the two Prime Ministers.
Since late 2014, when Rama became the first Albanian Prime Minister to visit Serbia in 68 years, the two Prime Ministers have intensified meetings to overcome barriers between the two countries and intensify cooperation at a time when Serbia is also normalizing relations with Kosovo after its independence in 2008.
The civil society organizations are also playing a key role in the normalization of Albanian-Serbia relations following a drone incident in a football match in October 2014 when relations between the two countries embarked on a Cold War status quo.
The Albanian Institute for International Studies and the European Movement Serbia have established a joint Centre for Albania-Serbia relations to boost relations between the two countries and overcome stereotypes.
A festival called “Mirdita, dobar dan” (“Good day” in Albanian and Serbian) opened this week to mark Bekim Fehmiu’s legacy in Belgrade, where the late actor spend most of acting career.
Bekim Fehmiu (1936-2010) was a film and stage actor. One of the internationally best known Albanian actors, Bekim Fehmiu was born in Sarajevo and finished his studies in drama at the Academy of Arts in Belgrade. He began his stage career in Prishtina but then returned to work in Belgrade where he was best known in the 1960s and 1970s. From 1953 to 1998, he appeared in 41 films, including some with actors such as Irene Pappas, Caludia Cardinale, Dirk Bogard and Ava Gardner. He is best remembered for his roles in the film The Feather Collector (1967) and in the serialized Odyssey (1989). He was reported to having taken his own life in Belgrade in June 2010.
