Val Jashari

Val Jashari moved to California at the age of twelve as an Albanian refugee from Kosovo. Her yearning for expression pushed her to write poetry and short stories in her younger years. Later she became interested in photography as another form of storytelling. From a very young age she wanted to be an actress and she took the opportunity of developing her craft in her early college years. She graduate as a first generation Albanian-American from UCLA's Film, Theater & Television in 2016 with a Directing degree. Her thesis film "The Evans Girl" won Best Directing and Best Picture at the UCLA's Spotlight Festival. After graduating Val went to Romania to production design,"Săptămână", a short film she wrote about the relationships of three generations of Romanian women and the effects of immigration on their family. She is currently working on her second film, "Nanë" (Mother), a short based on a true story about a young Albanian boy who tries to save his dying mother.