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FESTIVALS
Macedonian Film Days Art is often the best way to establish links between people of different political and religious attitudes, different mentalities and nationalities. Although Georgia and Macedonia have much in common, the close links between these two countries are, above all, due to cinema. These two countries, which have both suffered a lot in the recent past, started to develop their national film industry in the same period. Both countries have worked hard to promote their films throughout the world and have established a close partnership and even friendship in recent years. Now both countries are members of Eurimages and are combining their efforts to achieve success at a number of festivals. In 2011, a Days of Georgian Cinema event was organized in Macedonia in the Cinedays Festival. Recent Georgian films were screened and highly appreciated by the audience. This year, upon the invitation of the Georgian National Film Center, the Days of Macedonian Cinema was arranged in Tbilisi. On 2nd-4th April the Rustaveli cinema screened classic and contemporary Macedonian films. The guests of the event were Darko Basheski, Director of the Macedonian Film Fund,
and Vladimir Blazevski, director of one of the most successful recent films Punk Is Not Dead. The Director of the Macedonian Film Fund is a great supporter of Georgian cinema. He was one of the first to support Georgia’s membership of Eurimages. We interviewed Darko Basheski on contemporary Macedonian cinema, the activities of the Macedonian Film Fund and its partnership with the Georgian National Film Center.
promote Macedonia worldwide. People who had hardly heard about our country got interested not only in Macedonian films but in the country itself.
F.P. What changes has Macedonian cinema undergone since the Film Fund was established in your country? We established this new institute with state support. Initially we had two strategies of obtaining the financing: the first was state financing and the second was co-production. Out of 21 co-productions made in the past years, the majority have received awards at international festivals. So we can conclude that Macedonian cinema has started to achieve success and will continue to be successful. I think cinema is the best way to promote a country. As an example, I could name Milcho Manchevski’s Before the Rain, which turned out to be the best way to
F.P. How did cooperation between the Macedonian Film Fund and GNFC start? It started in 2009 when I met former Director of GNFC Tamar Tatishvili. Both Georgian and Macedonian films were unknown to the world at the time. They started to appear at various festivals in the same period. I frequently met Tamar Tatishvili at different film events. With time, our partnership with GNFC developed and friendly relationships were established. I am confident that these relationships will prove to be long-lasting.
F.P. Which was the most successful film financed by the Fund? Vladimir Blazevski’s Punk Is Not Dead was the winner of the Karlovy-Vary Film Festival. After this success the film was awarded more than 15 prizes at various festivals.
>> Magda Gogolashvili