Macedonia: 38th Manaki Brothers film festival opens in Bitola

With the Macedonian premiere of the short film "Krajot na vremeto" by Macedonian director Milcho Manchevski, and later with the premiere of the Bulgarian - Macedonian co - production "Nasoki" by the Bulgarian director Stephen Komandarev, the first of the films in the official selection will start the 38th  International Film Camera Festival "Manaki Brothers" in Bitola.


The organizers inform that the preparations for the gala opening in the Bitola Culture Center have been completed and the city is full of fans of the film.

According to the program, before the screenings of the films, the President of the State, George Ivanov, who is the patron of the festival, will present the Golden Camera 300 award for the lifetime achievement to the French cinematographer Pierre Lom. The second winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award, Italian cinematographer Giuseppe Rotouno did not come to Macedonia because of his age.

During the gala opening of the festival will be performed performance directed by Nela Vitosevic. The choreographer is Iskra Sukarova, and actors Sasko Kocev, Dragan Kostadinovska, Denis Abdullah, dancer Agim Baftii and students from the contemporary dance department at the Faculty of Music Arts in Skopje will perform.

After the opening ceremony, the film "The End of Time" by director Milco Mancevski will be screened, and immediately afterwards the audience will follow the screening of the film in the Bulgarian-Macedonian co-production "Directions", whose cinematographer is Veselin Hristov. Co-producer of this film, which was screened in the prestigious "Certain View" program in Cannes, is "Sector Film" by Macedonian producers Vladimir Anastasov and Angela Nestorovska.

This year's edition of the festival features 10 different film programs, 13 films in the competition for Golden, Silver and Bronze Camera 300, the international jury is headed by Paul Rene Roststad, a cinematographer from Norway, and members include: Luka Coasin, cinematographer from Italy, Jani - Petteri Passi , cinematographer from Finland, Darijan Pejovski, director and screenwriter, from Macedonia and Erol Zubcevic, cinematographer from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The winner of this year's 38th edition of the ICFF Manaki Brothers, the giant of French cinematography, Pierre Lom has been staying in Macedonia for two days. He and his wife, Renee, immediately after arriving at the Skopje airport, expressed their desire to get to know the country and its culture.

They visited the church "St. Spas" and there they saw the icons from the 15th and 16th centuries, as well as the iconostasis, then the guests from France walked through the Old Skopje Bazaar, and Lom's wife liked the jewelry of the Macedonian goldsmiths.

On the road to Bitola, the genius cameraman's eye of Pierre Lom noticed the magical beautiful landscape. The team of the festival welcomed the guests in front of the hotel "Epinal" in Bitola where gifts were given to them. The giant of French and world cinema, Pierre Lom, said he is delighted with the Macedonian cultural tradition and from Macedonia that celebrates the work of the cinematographers

SOURCE: MACTEL