By Elmira Babamusta/
Producer and writer Julian Biba explores race relations and social issues in his films. Born in Albania he moved to United States in 2000. Having a background in karate, military education and police training it was only natural that Julian fell in love with action films. His big project was screen writer for “Leap of Faith”.
“Leap of Faith” was a game changer for the way I write and think about writing. It is designed for a big budget film, which makes it in the same time the strong and the weak point of the project.” said writer, producer Julian Biba.
Julian collaborated with writer, director Roland Uruci for the short film “Paftuar” (Uninvited), which he co-wrote, and served as Assistant Producer and Stunt Coordinator.
“This film is based on true events where I happen to be an eyewitness and it is a drama about human rights violations by Greek border patrol units against Albanian illegal emigrants. We wish to have the funds at some point, so we can film the full feature version of the script to tell the whole story.”
“I had the pleasure and honor to work with director Roland Uruci; director of photography Albert Elmazovski;, two actors that I grew up watching on television Todi Llupi and Karafil Shena; the actor/director Laert Vasili; the amazing producers Tefta Bejko and Bujar Alimani; and actors Artan Telqiu, Albi Dhima, Armando Dauti, Griseld Kapllanaj, Sabrina Alimani, Galip Cobaj, Ervin Kendella.”
Since “Paftuar” Julian has taken a few acting classes with actor/director Ron Millkie and has written several scripts, many of which are based on real life stories.
“Two of the full features are again based on true events that I have participated in. “The Bright Future” is somehow a follow up of “Paftuar” but now the main story happens in Athens, Greece. “Trust” is based on events happening during a massive armed rebellion in Albania on 1997. Then there is “Leap of Faith” which is my first fiction script and it is about the drama of a Syrian woman that loses her family. The short films are a mixture of true events and fiction.”
Julian took an intensive course with “ScreenwritingU” Professional Screenwriting Program. During the 8 months of the course he completed his script “Leap of Faith” featured on “Inktip” magazine for consideration of several production companies.
Besides producing and writing, he was an extra in “The Americans” and was featured in the documentaries role Al Capone “Mysteries At the Museum” travel channel.
“I love the show “The Americans” and had a great experience watching first hand a production of that level. The Al Capone and 19th century detective were documentaries where we had to improvise and I really enjoyed it.”
“During the New York Albanian Film Week of producer Mrika Krasniqi I had the chance to have constructive conversations with directors like Iris Elezi and Fatmir Koci while was asked by the Kosovar director Sabri Pajaziti to act on his short film “A Tough Time in NY” next to a very talented actor Julian Gjaci. This was a very pleasant experience and I enjoyed every moment of it.”
Julian Biba is currently working on developing the Jewish story during World War in Albania. He says that the script is in progress and it explores “one of the most precious values of Albanians, ‘BESA’, the promise that a traditional Albanian would prefer dying rather than breaking”. He is planning to organize more screenings in New York, Washington DC and Massachusetts for the “Paftuar” short film, with the objective to produce the full feature of the short.