Double focus

Alberto Basciani is Professor of Contemporary History in the Department of Political Science at Roma Tre University, where he heads the Interdisciplinary Research Center on Southeast Europe, Russia and Eurasia (CRIERE). He is also a member of the Committee of the Italian Society for the Study of Contemporary History (SISSCo). His areas of research focus on modernization processes in South-East Europe during the interwar period, Romanian communism and fascist imperialism in the Balkans. His latest monograph is L’impero nei Balcani. La conquista italiana dell’Albania (1939-1943) Rome, Viella, 2022.

Carmen Belmonte is a tenure-track researcher at the University Padua. She coordinates the research group Decolonizing Italian Visual and Material Culture at the Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Institute for Art History within the collaborative project SPAZIDENTITÀ, promoted by the École Française de Rome (2022–2026).  Before her position in Padua, she was Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America at Columbia University, New York; Adjunct Professor at the University of Florence; Researcher and Lecturer at Roma Tre University.

She was awarded research fellowships from the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa; the Bibliotheca Hertziana – MPI, the American Academy in Rome, the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut.

Her research focuses on the visual and material culture of Italian colonialism, on the legacies of fascism, and on cultural heritage in post-disaster scenarios. In 2021 she published the book Arte e colonialismo in Italia. Oggetti, immagini, migrazioni (1882-1906), Marsilio. She is the editor of the multi-authored volume A Difficult Heritage: The Afterlives of Fascist-Era Art and Architecture (Silvana Editoriale, 2023).

Alessandro Gallicchio (1986, Italy), 2024-2025 Villa Medici resident, is a lecturer in contemporary art history at Sorbonne University, a member of the André-Chastel Center and a research associate at CETOBaC. With a doctorate in art history from the universities of Florence, Paris-Sorbonne and Bonn (2016), he pursues his research following the methodologies developed by the social and political history of art. He is interested in the influences of nationalism and anti-Semitism in the construction of artistic discourse, and in the relationship between art, architecture and urban space in the Balkans and the Mediterranean.

Marinela Ndria graduated from the Faculty of Figurative Arts, University of Arts, Tirana. She has completed several specialization courses in the field of restoration of works of art at: Institute of Art and Restoration, Palazzo Spinelli, Florence, Italy; UNESCO (United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization) regional office in Venice; as well as at the professional art school  “Frymë dashurie” in Tirana. Her former duties include directing the Central Restoration Laboratory at the General Directorate of Archives in Albania. Previously, she has been a lecturer at the Albanian School of Public Administration, a restorer of works of art in the Regional Directorate of National Culture, Tirana, and in charge of the works of art sector in the Regional Directorate of Cultural Monuments, in Tirana. On March 2022, art restorer  Marinela Ndria was appointed to the position of Director of the Albanian National Film Archive.

Born and raised in Albania, Roland Sejko graduated from Tirana’s Faculty of History and Philology in 1990. Since 1991, he has lived in Rome, and since 1995 has worked for Istituto Luce, now Cinecittà, where he is currently editorial director of Archivio Storico Luce. He has written and directed several documentaries, mainly distinguished by their reuse of archive cinema. In 2013, he won the David di Donatello Prize for his documentary Anija / La nave. His latest film, La macchina delle immagini di Alfredo C., was presented in official selection at the 78th Venice Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica, in the Orizzonti Extra section, and won the Nastro d’Argento for Best Docufilm in 2021. He is the author of films and artistic curator of numerous Istituto Luce and Cinecittà exhibitions. He is also one of the curators of MIAC, the Italian Cinema and Audiovisual Museum at Cinecittà.

Eriona Vyshka joined the staff of the Albanian Film Archive in 2001. She is in charge of the cataloguing and collections management department.  Eriona has edited several catalogues and periodicals published by the Albanian Film Archive and recently has written a book about the archival records in relation with Kinostudio film production process. Eriona has served as the Albanian representative to several Southeast European Cinema meetings, an international cinema network that the Albanian National Film Center joined in 2003. As an experienced archivist, Eriona represents the archives at several regional and European professionals’ meetings and serves as the liaison and project coordinator between the Albanian Film Archive and other collaborators or initiatives AQSHF works with, dedicated to preserving, restoring and promoting Albanian film heritage. Eriona holds an MA in Literature from Tirana University; her research is focused on the adaptation process from novel into film.