Natasha Lako, poet and screenwriter, was born in Korça. After graduating in journalism from the University of Tirana, she was appointed to the magazine Shqiptarja e Re in 1971. In 1976, she began working at the Kinostudio Shqipëria e Re as an editor-screenwriter. At the age of 16, she published her first poems in the newspaper Drita. Her poems have been translated and published in France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, the United States, Italy, Greece, and other countries. As a screenwriter, she made her debut with one of the most famous films in Albanian cinema, Mësonjtorja (1979, directed by M. Fejzo), which won the Best Screenplay award at the IV Albanian Film Festival. The assessments of her as a poet, describing the “internal drama of her experiences and metaphorical expression,” or that in her poetry “the effect is achieved through contrasts,” can also be applied to her work as a writer and screenwriter.
From 1987 to 1991, Natasha Lako was a member of the Presidency of the League of Writers and Artists. Involved in the democratic movement from the start, she was elected as a representative of the Democratic Party to the first pluralist parliament in 1991. From 1997 to 2005, she served as the director of the Central State Film Archive and was the responsible editor for all publications produced by the institution. For 30 years, she has written extensively for the Albanian press on films, cinema-related issues, and notable figures of Albanian cinema, and in recent years has contributed to foreign press as well. (In the photo: Natasha Lako)
Text: Kristaq Dhamo
Photo: © https://www.teksteshqip.com/natasha-lako
Graphic processing: AHCF
