Albanians from Michigan determined to bring their history to life with new film

Scanderbeg, Warrior King of Albania

One Man’s Destiny Became a Nation’s Epic
Struggle for Freedom…Glory has a Terrible Price.

by Yusra Tekbali

An ethnic Albanian warrior clad in
armor embroidered with a double-headed
eagle fights an invading power until his death,
freeing his people from the tyranny of foreign
rule and cementing values of
pride, courage and allegiance
to one’s heritage in Albanian
identity for centuries.
Scanderbeg, Warrior
King of Albania showcases the
heroism and struggle of
George Castriota, Scanderbeg,
The Dragon of Albania, in a
documentary similar to what
you’d see on The History
Channel- suitable since Nua
Gjelaj, the film’s art director,
screenwriter and producer is
also a historian.
Gjelaj was born in
former Yugoslavia and
immigrated to the U.S. with in
1972-first to New York and
then to Michigan, where he
currently resides. He earned his
bachelor’s and master’s
degrees in history from Wayne
State University, choosing to focus on the
late medieval period in Eastern Europe.
“I was always interested in my
culture,” Gjelaj says. “As I studied history,
particularly Albanian and Balkan history, I
became fascinated with tapping into this
realm that isn’t really taught in schools.”
His venture into film stems from his
love of history and Scanderbeg, Warrior
King of Albania is just another way to get
people interested in history, Gjelaj says. He

interviewed scholars from around the world
and the film is based on Catholic monk,
Marin Barleti’s biography of Scanderbeg.
“Scanderbeg was so important because
he protected the Albanian identity from
becoming something it wasn’t, even though
remnants of the Ottomans’ 400-year rule of
Albania can still be in Albanian culture and
identity.”
Still, insists Gjelaj, Scanderbeg,
Warrior King of Albania isn’t just for
Albanians. Non-Albanians can enjoy the film
because they aren’t familiar with the story.

“Often, Hollywood regurgitates a lot
of the same stuff, and this story is a fresh
alternative to that,” he says.
From inception to idea to completion
the project took about
five years, and would
have been completed
sooner had there been
an adequate amount of
finances from the
beginning, Gjelaj says.
It helped that the film’s
director, Albanian Nik
Gjonaj was always on
the same page and in
tune with Gjelaj.
Fantastic Films
International picked up
Scanderbeg, Warrior
King of Albania, when
it was screened at Riley
Studios at the
Fairbanks Theater in
Hollywood last
November; it’s the first
documentary the
company has picked
up.
“It showed at the Berlin Film Festival
in February,” Gjelaj says with the pride of a
father seeing his son bring home a Little
League trophy.
Gjelaj hasn’t had any previous
experience making films and teamed up with
Gjonaj by a convenient stroke of luck.
“I paint a lot of portraits and figures
of Albanian history,” Gjelaj says. “I decided

to sell my painting of Gjergj Kastrioti on EBay
and the winner was Nik.”
Gjonaj says Gjelaj is too modest about
his artistic craft.
“He’s a great artist,” he says. “I heard
about his paintings before and then one day
I’m just searching the web and fall in love
with this painting.”
“I was a bit peeved cuz he got it
for cheap,” Gjelaj says with a chuckle.
The two met at his sister’s bar to “seal
the deal” on the purchase, and ended up discussing
their mutual interest in Albanian culture
and history, sparking the genesis of the
film. They originally spoke about making a
feature film, but decided a documentary
would be more practical.
“My biggest challenge as a director
was to work within our constraints, Gjonaj
says. “My eyes were bigger than my stomach
and I couldn’t fulfill my vision.”
Gjelaj sold his paintings throughout the
process, and the men financed themselves
before being supported by an Albanian
woman from Birmingham, Michigan.
Enter Tringa Gojcaj.
“She had the resources we needed
when we reached a low point, and really
came in at the perfect time,” Gjelaj says.
Gojcaj, a real estate agent, hopped on
as the film’s executive producer after reuniting
with Gjonaj’s father over a restaurant she
sold him ten years ago.
“I met Nik and Nua after that and I
saw that these two young fellows had
reached a dead end on a project they poured
their hearts into,” Gojcaj says.
Her nephew, Anton Gojcaj, plays
Scanderbeg in the film.

Along with her support and some community
fundraisers the filming continued,
Gjelaj says.
“The money, the time, the hurdles- it
will test your patience. You have to have a
strong passion, you need financing and you
need vision,” he says.
Gojcaj agree that passion is really what
brought everyone together
“Even when it felt like no one was supporting
us, we knew the project was worth
it, and we had to bring Scanderbeg to life.”
Gjelaj says he tried to maintain a nonbiased
approach to portraying the history of
Scanderbeg, a Catholic warrior who drove
out the Muslim Turks.
“Most Albanians are Muslims, yet they
also consider Scanderbeg a national hero,”
he says. “Still, it was important for us not to
demonize the Turks; we wanted to be fair.”
Shooting the film involved traveling to
places around the world and reconnecting
with Albanian culture in order to create a
tangible connection to the story, Gjelaj says.
“It’s one thing trying to read about
places and another to breathe the air and feel
the land; it’s almost metaphysical that way.”
Gjelaj says him and Gjonaj still have
their heart set on turning Scanderbeg, Warrior
King of Albania into a full-length feature.
Their goal is to land a development deal
that will help turn show the epic sweep of
Scanderbeg’s story.
“Think Bravehart on steroids and
that’s Scanderbeg,” he says. “He fought for
25 years, intense warfare.”
“We really think it needs to be a feature
film,” Gjonaj adds. “Francis Ford
Coppola would be a great director for it-we
think it’s right up his ally.”

Gojcaj prefers Mel Gibson.
“He suffered to make Passion of the
Christ in the same we are suffering to make
Scanderbeg, Warrior King of Albania into a
bigger film,” she says. “People didn’t believe
in him until he did it and we can relate to
that.”
Gojcaj says she’d also love to see
Scanderbeg, Warrior King of Albania
adopted as a teaching tool in middle schools
and high schools.
“We didn’t make this to get rich, we
just really think this history is immensely important
and one that must be told,” she says.
Gjelaj and Gjonaj founded Illyria Entertainment
with the goal of making films
that entertain, educate and inspire.
Gjelaj says the most important thing
he’s learned working on Scanderbeg, Warrior
King of Albania is to be flexible and roll
with the punches.
“Don’t pigeonhole yourself. Don’t say
‘I’m just gonna be a documentary filmmaker.’
A filmmaker is a filmmaker, a writer is a
writer and an artist is an artist,” he says.
American audiences will relate to the
film because our current politics represent
many of the ideas Scanderbeg fought for, he
says.
“The idea of the underdog fighting
against an overwhelming power, shows that
people will resists because it’s better to have
the bad rule of your own than a benign foreign
invader” Gjelaj says.
The film’s message embodies the notion
that you can’t impose your idea of how
to live on others,” he says, conscious of the
political implication. “You can’t rewrite history,
but you can at least learn from it.”