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The first finding and a pleasure with this year's 19th edition of the
Bitola festival is the fact of its upward line in quality of the film programs which was
and remains to be the essential tissue of each and of our festival, too. The program is
full to the maximum with 21 films of which 15 competing for the award of best Director of
Photography; one specially selected in honor of the recipient of the Life Achievement
Award, out of competition; three screenings also out of competition - the program on the
Overview on the New British film, and two reserved for two Macedonian films, the promotion
of which as support for the home made films is quite obvious in the frames of the Bitola
Festival. However, let us follow in order. The greatest joy for us the organizers and I believe, for the foreign and domestic guests, journalists and critics, and first of all for the festival public comes from the awarding of the "Golden Camera 300" for Life Achievement to the renown Swedish and one of the greatest international Directors of Photography, Mr. Sven Nykvist, whose presence among us makes this distinguished act even greater and in whose honor we open the Festival with one of his latest creations as Director of Photography, the film PRIVATE CONFESSIONS which based on text of the great Ingmar Bergman is directed by an other member of the "Bergman family" Liv Ullmann. |
Concerning the content of the competing program, I was led in its concept by a key rule: to select first of all films of latest world production which in all aspects and above all from the aspect of artistic result of the Directors of Photography are works which can not be missed and which had to be included in the Bitola Festival. Besides this general rule I too care for the diversity of presence of genres as well as to illustrate how do function proven tandems: Director : Director of Photography in creating a common work, as is done by experienced D.O.P. and how they have progressed first of all in comparison with their participation with an other film at previous the Bitola Festivals as well as to show the beginners works of young directors or D.O.Ps., and finally to give a chance to the Macedonian authors by participating at the Bitola Festival, primarily with quality works, to measure their skills with part of the international film elite and by this to receive international affirmation.
Speaking more concretely, the strength of our competitive program is by the works of the great world directors, in the first line as Wim Wenders who in his American come-back, the film THE END OF VIOLENCE collaborates with no less than the beginner D.O.P. - Paskal RABAUT, which is a small curiosity but a great move by the experienced Wenders who entrusted this delicate task to the young Rabaut and was not mistaken.
The second great name is the Canadian Atom Egoyan who creating his film SWEET HEREAFTER collaborates with one of the international D.O.P in the first league - Paul SAROSSY. Their film comes to Bitola with the reputation of winner of the Grand Prix of last year's Cannes Film Festival and the Award of the International Critics - FIPRESCI, it was also nominated for best screenplay and best directing for this year's Academy Award.
In the Bitola program, irresistibly and unavoidably, we find two films
winners at the greatest world film festivals. This year's winner of the Golden Bear of
Berlin: the CENTRAL DO BRASIL is a new joint work by the tandem of Walters: the Director
Walter SALLES and the D.O.P., Walter CARVALHO, who has won for the film in black-and-white
photography: FOREIGN LAND, the SILVER CAMERA 300 of the 17th Bitola festival. The film
CENTRAL DO BRASIL is his latest color production. The second great laureate is the film
HANNA-BI, the last year's winner of the GOLDEN LION in Venice by the cult Japanese author
Takeshi KITANO, which after last year winning of the Bronze Camera 300 for its D.O.P.
Katsumi YANAGISHIMA, provides this time with HANA-BI, a possibility for representing his
collaboration with the D.O.P. Hideo YAMAMOTO. While speaking of Japanese films, we are
honored this year with the presence of Mr. Masao NAKABORI, winner of the Golden Camera 300
for his photographic master piece MABOROSI at the 17th Bitola Festival.
From The Netherlands one other Oscar winner this year, after the ANTONIA'S LINE at the
17th Festival, we have this year CHARACTER, this year's winner of the Foreign Film Oscar,
an extraordinary creation of the Director Mike van DIEM and first of all of the D.O.P.
Rodier STOFFERS. We have traditionally excellent representatives from Sweden (and let us
remember that in 1995 at the 16th Bitola Festival the winner of the Golden camera 300 was
the D.O.P. Stefan KULLAENGER for the film BETWEEN SUMMERS while at the 17th Film Camera
Festival the then Swedish nominee for Oscar ALL THINGS FAIR of the prominent Swedish
Director Bo WIDERBERG, whose D.O.P. the Dane, Morten BRUUS is the President of this years
International Jury of three members. In the competition this year, beside the opening film
we shall see the best Swedish film for the last two years JULORATORIET by the Director
Kjell Ake ANDERSSON and the D.O.P. from Norway Harald PAALGARD, a leading Scandinavian
photographer who won at the 15th Bitola Festival the Silver Camera 300 for his results in
black-and-white photography in the film DREAMPLAY.
In the last four selections I have always taken the liberty to call masterpieces one or two films, and this time I do that with the whole sincerity and assurance for the Russian representative MOTHER AND SON, the dramatic is achieved through the masterly visual-artistic photography of the D.O.P. Aleksei FYODOROV, as an addition to the sensibility of the new Russian Tarkowski - the director Alexandr SOKUROV.
The film TRAINBIRDS the third participation at the Bitola Festival of the young Director of Photography Frank GRIEBE (at the 16th Festival he won the STUDENT JURY AWARD for his debutante film as D.O.P. THE DEADLY MARIA which is directing debut of Tom TYKWER, this tandem participated this year in the competition at the Venice Festival with their latest film RUN LOLA RUN, and GRIEBE has taken part in the 17th Bitola Festival with the film THE BURNING SNAIL which is also a directing debut for Thomas STILLER. As in the case with the TRAINS'N'ROSES with GRIEBE makes the debut an other Director, this is Peter LICHTERFELD, while GRIEBE himself once again, after the film THE DEADLY MARIA appears in Bitola with the background of a winner of The National Award for the Best Director of Photography in Germany for this year.
Of the leading world cinematographies, the French and the British, two debutante creations are found in the competitive selection: SHOOTING STARS, directing first of the new wave young director Graham GUIT, while MOJO is the first of young Jez BUTTERWORTH whose film of the same named hit-theater play made with the assistance of the experienced D.O.P. Bruno de KEYSER.
From Hungary we have this year an other high quality representative (after the previous THE OUTPOST and BOLSHE VITA, this is the best Hungarian film THE WITMAN BOYS, this year's nominee for the Foreign Film Oscar, a creation by the tandem of authors: the Director Janos SZASZ and the D.O.P. Tibor MATHE.
The Spanish cinematography, in fact its Basque wing (after the excellent debutante film JUMP INTO THE VOID winning the D.O.P. Student's Award for Kiko de la RICA at the 17th Festiva in Bitola), is this year represented by the hilarious AIRBAG by the tandem: Director Juanma Bajo ULLOA and D.O.P. Gonzalo BERRIDI.
After the successful presentation at the recently closed 55th Venice Festival (wining the international critics' award - FIPRESCI), we are impatiently awaiting the Balkan premiere of the latest film of the leading Yugoslav Director Goran Paskaljevich, THE POWDER KEG in creative collaboration with the D.O.P. Milan SPASICH, and our curiosity is naturally enhanced as this is a film based on a successful theater play by our young playwright Dejan DUKOVSKI who is the screenwriter of the film POWDER KEG.
From neighboring Albania, as a pleasant surprise for its values, we have the film THE NIGHT made as an Albanian/Macedonian co-production, directed by the leading Albanian director, a Macedonian who lives and works in Albania - Esat MUSLIU where a particular value are the shots made nearly fully at night by the D.O.P. Pellumb PANARITI.
And finally the Macedonian competitive representative, the feature debut of the young writer-director tandem: Darko MITREVSKI- Aleksandar POPOVSKI, GOOD BYE 20TH CENTURY in which cartoon-spot-futuristic structure one of the main values is the artistic result of the D.O.P. Vladimir SAMOILOVSKI, who confirms himself as a true descendent of the veteran set Macedonian cameramen/ D.O.P.
The midnight program "An overview on the British Film" is a significant enhancement of the 19th Bitola Festival content. The aim was to present part of the progress of a leading cinematography - the British, and apart MOJO in the competitive selection, we could objectively include three more of the latest realizations by which we shall see the high author and creative results of the experienced directors and the well known to us world famous D.O.Ps. In the case with the film CAREER GIRLS we are introduced with the latest work by the director/cameraman tandem: Mike LEIGH - Dick POPE (previously seen at Bitola with THE NAKED, while Dick Pope was also the President of the 16th Bitola Festival Jury). After the participation with the extraordinary film by Ang LEE, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY in the competitive selection of the 17th Festival "Manaki Brothers", the leading British D.O.P. Michael COULTER with FAIRY TALE - A TRUE STORY once again demonstrates in a more specific manner his high class in collaboration with the experienced director Charles STURRIDGE. The third British film of the Midnight Program is this year's British competitive selection for the Berlin Festival - I WANT YOU directed by Michael WINTERBOTTOM (whose film JUDE signed also by the D.O.P. Eduardo SERRA participated in the competition of the 17th Bitola Festival) and D.O.P. Slawomir IDZIAK, known as collaborator of Kieslowski, plus the specific attraction for us that one of the leading roles in the film I WANT YOU is played by our Labina MITEVSKA.
The prelude to the feature films of the general program has been enriched with a selection of the best German animated films, which come as part and on the occasion of the collaboration with the Festival in Dresden which is brother-city with Skopje.
In the part in which the Bitola festival supports the home made movies come the two special screenings - international presentation of the long documentary film IN CONTINUO of the prominent Macedonian director of the oldest generation TRAJCHE POPOV (the cameraman is the experienced D.O.P. Dragan SALKOVSKI) and the feature film MAKLABAS by the author/ director Aco STANKOVSKI and the cameraman Vlatko GALEVSKI.
Finally a word on the Jury. As in previous years we have again a strong and high authority composition, this year for the first time a trio o Directors of Photography: The Dane Morten BRUUS as President, The Russian Sergei ASTAKHOV (last year winner of the Golden Camera 300 for the excellent film BROTHER directed by Alexei BALABANOV) and the German Martin LANGER proclaimed last year as the best German D.O.P. for the film 14 DAYS LIFETIME.
Out of all said it may be justified to stress that under full steam of the program quality, the 19th Film Camera Festival "Manaki Brothers" goes towards the jubilee, the 20th Festival next year, which an inspiration and obligation for all of us as organizers and as a host country.
Blagoja KUNOVSI
Program Selektor
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