The 44th edition of the “Manaki Brothers” International Film Camera Festival has started in the city of Bitola, reports Anadolu.
This year’s festival with the slogan “The Beautiful Unknown” started at the Culture Center in Manastir with the participation of many guests.
This year, the festival, which will last until September 29, will include 80 films, while in addition to the screening of the films, seminars, discussions and workshops will also be organized.
In this edition of the festival, the latest film by the Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, entitled “About Dry Grasses” will also be shown. This film is designated as Turkey’s nominee for “Best International Film” at the 96th Academy Awards, otherwise known as the Oscars.
The film earned Turkish actress Merve Dizdar the “Best Actress” award at the 76th Cannes Film Festival held in France.
Within the framework of the festival, Oscar-winning cinematographer Peter Biziou was awarded the “Golden Camera 300” Lifetime Achievement Award, while actress and producer Labina Mitevska received the “Greatest Macedonian Film Star” Award. The winner of the Golden Camera 300 Special Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Art of World Cinema, cinematographer Seamus McGarvey, will receive the award at the closing of the festival.
The Minister of Culture of North Macedonia, Bisera Kostadinovska Stojčevska, in her speech at the ceremony said that the festival keeps alive the memory of the curious Manaki brothers, who nurtured the values of visual art at the highest level and saw the previously unknown as a big challenge.
Describing film art as a powerful tool and the most understandable language that easily transforms all obstacles, Stojčevska said: “The Manaki brothers realized this long ago and put it into their film, reaching into the wondrous unknown where are you going too. The party in Manastir has already started. I declare the festival open”.
The Mayor of the Municipality of Bitola, Toni Konjanovski, for his part, said that as hosts of the festival, the doors for cultural institutions are open until the end. “This edition of the Manaki Brothers festival, the 44th in a row, is a new confirmation of the cultural-artistic growth of the festival, but also of the city with it, which will gather a record number of guests this year,” he said. .
Meanwhile, the director of the festival, Simeon Moni Damevski, announcing that this year’s festival will host over 350 guests, said that “This year we have a record 80 films, nine workshops and dozens of different events that will leave their magical mark and imprint in the very soul of the Monastery”.
Organized by the Association of Macedonian Film Workers under the patronage of the president Stevo Pendarovski, the festival is supported by the Ministry of Culture of North Macedonia, the Municipality of Bitola and various institutions.
The “Manaki Brothers” festival is among the oldest film festivals dedicated to cinematographic creativity.
The first edition of the festival was held in 1979, while the inspiration for the establishment of the festival is the tribute to the photographic and cinematographic work of the brothers Janaki and Milton Manaki.
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