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Hunting Flies (2016 film)

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Hunting Flies
Film poster
Directed byIzer Aliu
Written byIzer Aliu
Produced byKhalid Maimouni
StarringBurhan Amiti
CinematographyNils Eilif Bremdal
Edited byIzer Aliu
Music byRoy Westad
Distributed byEuropafilm
Release date
  • 10 September 2016 (2016-09-10) (TIFF)
Running time
106 minutes
CountryNorway
LanguageAlbanian
Box office$134,067[1]

Hunting Flies (Fluefangeren) is a 2016 Norwegian drama film directed and written by Izer Aliu.

Synopsis

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Hunting Flies is a drama film set in a classroom over the course of one day. The protagonist, Ghani, is an idealistic teacher who loses his job on the first day of teaching. In a bid to get his job back he locks his students in the classroom and forces them to resolve a long-running conflict between their villages.

Cast

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  • Burhan Amiti as Ghani the Teacher (the only professional actor[2])
  • Miraxh Ameti
  • Hadis Aliov
  • Besar Amiti

Production

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Hunting Flies is the directorial debut feature film of Izer Aliu, who also wrote the screenplay.[3] It was produced by Khalid Maimouni, who was born in Tangier, Morocco, in 1979, moving to Norway when he was 11. He has been involved in filmmaking since 2007.[4]

After the project had started in April of 2013, filming was done over 22 days of the hot summer, in a rural area near Skopje in Macedonia. Nils Eilif Bremdal was director of photography and part of a team of only five people. Writer/director Aliu worked from an 11-page synopsis, developing the script as they worked.[2]

There was only one professional actor in the film, Burhan Amiti; the rest were friends and relatives, including the filmmaker's wife, as it was difficult to find women prepared to act in the film.[2]

Themes

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Writer/director Aliu says that Hunting Flies is "above all, a political film" in which he aimed "to evoke the birth, the flourishing, and the fall of a dictator, within a school setting". He said it was about the loss of principles, and the challenge of remaining true to ourselves "when the system forces us to change".[2]

Release

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Hunting Flies had its world premiere in the Discovery section at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival,[5] and went on to screen at many other film festivals.[4]

Accolades

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The film earned many nominations and some wins in several awards in 2017, including:

References

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  1. ^ "Hoggeren". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d Aliu, Izer (24 April 2017). "Izer Aliu • Director". Cineuropa (Interview). Retrieved 20 May 2024. Translated from French by Hannah Thompson
  3. ^ "Hunting Flies". Norwegian Film Institute. 8 September 2016. Archived from the original on 15 September 2016.
  4. ^ a b c "Hunting Flies – Norway". Nordic cooperation. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  5. ^ "Hunting Flies". TIFF. 8 September 2016. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  6. ^ a b c d e "Hunting Flies (2016)". IMDb. 15 May 2024. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  7. ^ "Record Amanda wins for Norway's The King's Choice". Nordisk Film & TV Fond. 21 August 2017. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  8. ^ Pham, Annika (22 August 2017). "Five Nordic Films Nominated for Nordic Council Film Prize 2017".
  9. ^ "New York Premiere". Albanian Institute New York. 27 August 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  10. ^ a b ""Hunting Flies" by the Albanian director is nominated for three "Amanda Awards"". KOHA.net. 23 June 2017. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
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