Debar, Park in front of Cultural Centre Debar, 09 – 10 June 2023
Friday, 09 June 2023
20:30
Short MK film: Solo Mode, Director Tamara Kotevska, 30min
21:00
HIVE (84 min, Kosovo, Switzerland, Albania, North Macedonia, 2021)
Plot: Like many women in Kosovo, Fahrije is hoping for news about her husband, who is still missing seven years after the war. Widows are not expected to work, but she has to provide for her family and joins forces with other widows to start a business producing ajvar. This is even though the community already condemns her for daring to drive. The film was inspired by the true story of Fahrije Hoti.
Awards: 2021 Sundance Grand Jury Prize, the Audience Award and the Directing Award
Talk with Valdeta Ismaili, Actress
Topic: Mother’s love, women and their role in the patriarchal society
Moderator: Arsim Leskovica, Filmologist, Cinemateque
Trailer:
Saturday, 10 June 2023
20:30
Short MK film: Living in a bubble, Director Nikola Drvosanov, 8 min
21:00
VERA DREAMS OF THE SEA (82 min, Kosovo, Albania, North Macedonia, 2021)
Plot: Vera is a middle-aged sign language interpreter, whose life is disrupted by her husband’s suicide who has to face the raw reality of going against the deep-seated gender issues of our times.
Awards: 2021 Venice Film Festival nominee for best film – “Orizzonti selection”; 2021 Tokyo International Film Festival Grand Prix Award
Talk with Muesin Miftari, Filmologist
Topic: Suicide in the family, gender issues
Moderator: Arsim Leskovica, Filmologist, Cinemateque
Trailer:
Veles, Amphitheatre, Youth Park, 16 – 17 June 2023
Friday, 16 June 2023
20:30
Short MK film: Blue Hour, Director Ana Jakimska, 19 min.
21:00
ANOTHER ROUND (117 min, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, 2020)
Plot: Martin is a high-school teacher who feels old and tired. His students and their parents want him terminated to increase their average. Encouraged by the per mille theory, Martin and his three colleagues throw themselves into an experiment to maintain a constant alcohol impact in everyday life. The result is positive in the beginning. Martin’s class is in a different way now, and the project is being promoted to a real academic study with the collection of results. Slowly but surely, the alcohol makes the four friends and their surroundings loosen up. The results are rising, and they really begin to feel life. As the objects go inboard, the experiment progresses for some and goes off track for others. It becomes clearer and clearer that alcohol can generate great results in world history, but that all daring can also have consequences.
Awards: 2021 Academy Award for Best International Feature Film
Talk with Marija Lukarevska, film critic
Topic: Alcohol, friendship, experiment
Moderator: Petra Brankovska, Gledaj.mk
Trailer:
Saturday, 17 June 2023
20:30
Short MK film: Same, Director Ferdi Jajai, 09.30 min.
21:00
THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD (128 min, Norway, France, Sweden, Denmark, 2021)
Plot: The chronicles of four years in the life of Julie, a young woman who navigates the troubled waters of her love life and struggles to find her career path, leading her to take a realistic look at who she really is.
Awards: 2022 Academy Award Nomination for Best International Feature Film and Best Original Screenplay
Talk with Alek Vasilevski, filmologist director, Cinemateque
Topic: Love, career, finding the true self
Moderator: Petra Brankovska, Gledaj.mk
Trailer:
Bitola, Europe House (Plateau Army Hall, 22 – 23 June 2023)
Friday, 23 June 2023
20:30
Short MK film: Tina’s Problem, Director Radovan Petrovic, 15min.
21:00
FABIAN: GOING TO THE DOGS (176 min, Germany, 2021)
Plot: Berlin, 1931. A milieu between sublets and the underworld, where brothels are artists’ studios, Nazis are yelling abuse in the streets and Babelsberg is dreaming of producing “psychological cinema”. Life is surging, society is fermenting and corroding. As long as he still has a job, Jakob Fabian, who has a doctorate in German studies, writes advertising copy during the day and frequents the city’s more outlandish establishments with Stephan Labude at night. While his friend – who later confesses to having failed “in the subjects of life and profession” – is a go-getter when it comes to communism and sex, Fabian remains sober and distant. Without really believing in it, he is waiting for the “victory of decency”. His love for Cornelia is the only thing that makes him question his ironic fatalism. She becomes a ray of hope in his crumbling existence.
Awards: 2021 Berlin International Film Festival nomination for Golden Bear Award
Talk with Elena Ristevska, Contracadar
Topic: Effect of corroding societies on human life
Moderator: Bojan Stanic, Contracadar
Trailer:
Saturday, 24 June 2023
20:30
Short MK film: Wigs, Director Angela Dimeska, 14 min.
21:00
I’M YOUR MAN (108 min, Germany, 2021)
Plot: In order to obtain research funds for her studies, a scientist accepts an offer to participate in an extraordinary experiment: for three weeks, she is to live with a humanoid robot, created to make her happy.
Awards: 2021 Berlin International Film Festival nomination for Golden Bear Award and Silver Bear Award for best acting performance
Talk with Blagica Dimitrova, Contracadar
Topic: Life aspirations, artificial intelligence, happiness
Moderator: Bojan Stanic, Contracadar
Trailer: