TENTEN: Rays of Rezeta
Rezeta Veliu Cook is from Prishtina but she lived in Japan, China, Mexico & US. She played in Netflix films and top shows but is now a prize-winning photographer. A great chat with the radiant Rezeta.
Rezeta is fun, creative, smart, warm, cuddly, sharp and we love spending time with her. In 1999, at the age of 14, as many of us, she became a refugee of Kosovo with her family in New York City. But her curiosity for cultures and passion for travel led her to live in Japan, China, Mexico City, London, LA, and Joshua Tree.
She started her art career as a fashion model with gigs from New York to Tokyo, but soon after moved to films, playing in feature films and impressive list of series. The list of TV shows Rezeta has played in is impressive: The Black List, Law & Order, Orange is New Black, Girls, The Moor, etc.
She now lives in Los Angeles with her husband Rob and two kids and has transformed her love of arts into photography - doing great, majestic but intimate photos, mostly in old school film and in black and white. Her black-and-white photography really emphasizes the timeless quality of her work, so it’s not surprising she just recently won a prize at The Analog Sparks International Film Photography Awards. So we grabbed this opportunity to have a chat with her for our Friday’s TENTEN interview
1. Hi Rezeta, so here’s our first question: in a Hollywood film, who should play Queen Teuta of Illyria, the leader of fearless pirates, Tilda Swindon or FKA Twigs?
Hi Suzanne. Without any question Tilda. She’s a Queen of Queens and would be an awesome Queen Teuta.
2. What would be your preferred backdrop for an art work to celebrate women’s body: the nudist beach of Ada Buna in Montenegro or rocks of the Great Canyon in Arizona?
Oh Suzanne, this is a tough one, because I would love to connect to my roots and shoot something beautiful and meaningful to me, but then there’s something about Grand Canyon rocks - they are so ancient and sacred so weathered and hard. I’m drawn to that masterpiece of earth. Wild, beautiful, enormous entity of nature that can’t even be described.
3. A happy night with best friends having: raki at Kafet e Rakisë in Prishtina or tequila in Mexico City?
Arghh. Edhe njo tepër e vështirë. You’re killing me, so difficult to chose. Both are my home, I love both of them. But nothing beats raki in Prishtinë, so maybe that. You know why? Because of friendships and history and love - but Mexico city is my second big city crush that I love and I adore. You know what else I adore: mezcal, that’s my favorite drink.
4. Last time we met was at Dokufest in Prizren. Name three things you love about film festivals?
Firstly, I love how Dokufest brings people together, people of different nationalities and walks of life. Secondly, it’s got many art and film formats between documentaries, short films, featured premieres. etc. Also, I’m a film junky so being in a place like that where you only watch films but also meet film makers and see their process of film making, all the crazy stories they tell, how they raise money, how they produce films.
5. If you would be playing a sous-chef at TV show The Bear, what’s one Albanian dish you know you’ll get a Michelin star for?
Hahaha. I only know how to make a handful of Albanian dishes so I would have to do either A. speca të mbushuna (filled peppers) like my mums’ or B. sarma (wrapped rice with cabbage) but cooking that really stinks the place - but I can also do old style pasul me suxhuk (beans with sausage). I totally think I would blow their minds with pasul me suxhuk, village style, to add spice to their lives.
6. Whats the last book that you read that left you breathless?
One of last books that left me breathless, like “wow”, was “Beloved” by Tony Morrison. The exploration of the trauma and history was overwhelming and powerful. It shifted the way I thought about love and loss.
7. What’s one Albanian song at the weddings that gets you lead the valle?
Oh god. I love the one with “edhe do ta kallim, do t’ja qesim timin”. Always. Brings me back to early days of childhood and entire family dancing. And I love the one “Ah Pranvera Pranvera, Zoti moj të bekoftë...”
8. What’s one Albanian theme that you would propose for Met Gala?
Good question. I would do 1000% the eagle. Mixture of traditional Albanian costumes but with bold, iconic eagle symbol, gowns, suits with crazy accessories and headpieces. Make it wild and time travelling. Also have a landscape of Albanian mountains and rivers and ancient fortresses just inspire tones and crazy textures. I would totally attend that and kill it.
9. Barefoot in sandy beach electronic music festival in Dhërmi - or high heels at the opening of a Damien Hirst exhibition in London?
Damien Hirst exhibition in London would be excellent experience but I get to go to these crazy amazing art events anyways, especially with my husband. Maybe for a change I could go to a music festival in a sandy beach. I would pick that, because I don’t have that often.
10. Who you would you prefer to do your portrait, Annie Leibovitz or David Hockney?
Oh, that’s a good one, good one. They are both iconic. Very different. I love Liebowitz and her dramatic portraits and maybe one day would happen, fingers crossed hahhaha. But Hockney is playful and I enjoy his colors and his experimentation in portraits. Something timeless. It would be a dream of having a portrait by him just because he’s so incredible.
