Biography

Izer Aliu (born 1982) is a Norwegian-Macedonian director and screenwriter. He is most well known for his 2016 debut feature film, Hunting Flies. He wrote and directed TV series Countrymen (Jordbrukerne) and a second feature film, 12 Dares (12 bragder), while a third feature film is under way as of May 2024. Izer Aliu, who is of Albanian descent, was born in Macedonia in 1982. He moved to Sweden when he was two years old, and grew up mostly in Norway and Sweden, later becoming a Norwegian citizen.

He first studied international relations and philosophy, before studying filmmaking at the Norwegian Film School at Lillehammer. There he taught young people in filmmaking workshops, as part of Filmbussen ("the cinema bus"), which travelled to schools in the vicinity. He graduated in 2012. He has spoken of the gratitude he feels towards his teachers, "who made me realize things I cannot imagine living without today", and his filmmaking education.

As of 2023 Aliu was a PhD student at the Film School, researching "if all editing is a lie". He intends to explore the process of editing through the life of making a film, from writing, through production, to post-production, and investigate whether there is a way "to 'cut' without 'cutting'".