(Feature film, Macedonia, 2007, 102’, Color, OVEST) |
Directed by : Teona Strugar Mitevska
With: Labina Mitevska, Ana Kostovska, Nikolina Kujaca, Petar Musevski, Xhefdet Jashari
Produced by: Sisters and Brother Mitevski (Skopje), Silkroad Production (France)
|
Synopsis:
A social drama, I am from Titov Veles is the story of three sisters living in Veles, a small industrial town in Macedonia, searching for a better life. With painful honesty, writer/director Teona Strugar Mitevska follows the sisters as they struggle with themselves, their dissolving family and difficult relationships.
Review:
“I am from Titov Veles is about the end of a nation. Identity is no longer connected to a birthplace or origin, people search inside themselves for definition.
The film prepares you for a new beginning, a renaissance that can start precisely here in the Balkans, a movement that will focus on our future rather than our past, as it has been so far. I turn to beauty, harmony and balance in the environment that surrounds us, and it is through beauty and simplicity that I have chosen to tell my story. Form and style are determined by the context of the film, an idea which deeply connects with my personal vision as an artist. Nostalgia is a profound emotion in all of my films, and it informs this ending: the end of the characters, of the nation. However, it is a sacrifice we must make. We must end in order to begin again.
I believe in telling contemporary stories in cinema, reflecting on issues and dilemmas that are important for one’s society and culture. And what is contemporary is not necessarily political, as one always expects in the Balkans. There are also economic, cultural, social factors, as well as the traditions that make Macedonia and the Balkans what they are.”
Teona Strugar Mitevska
|
