Dhimitër Anagnosti is probably the most important Albanian film director of the 20th century. He was a member of the Parliament of Albania in the 1990s and a Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports. For his contribution in film, he received the People"s Artist of Albania medal.
Anagnosti was born on January 23, 1936 in Vuno, Himara municipality, District of Vlorë Albania. After graduating the Ali Demi high school in Vlorë, he pursued his studies and graduated as a film director in Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography of Moscow.
In 1961, along with Viktor Gjika, Anagnosti directed the film, Njeriu kurrë nuk vdes (English: The Man Never Dies), using as a script a short story from American writer, Ernest Hemingway. The work earned him First Prize in the World"s Festival of Cinematographic Schools, in the Netherlands.
He started to work as a cineast within Kinostudio Shqipëria e Re in 1961, with the film, Debatik in 1961 and subsequently with the film Toka jonë (English: Our Land) in 1964. He is also the writer of the first Albanian color documentary, Gurët dekorativë (English: Decorative stones). In 1966 Anagnosti co-directed, with Viktor Gjika, Komisari i dritës (English: The Commissary of the Light), and a year later he directed Duel i heshtur (English: Silent Duel).
Overall he has directed 14 films and 10 documentaries, and has won many national and international prizes. He is also the screenwriter of most of the films he directs.
For his extraordinary performance of some of the best Albanian films, he has been given the title Merited Artist of Albania, and in 1987, People"s Artist of Albania. During the communist rule of Albania, however, many of his works were censored. He won the Cup to the Carrier in the Ninth Festival of the Albanian Film.