Macedonian

Marko has a poet’s sensibilities in Veles, a town in war-torn Macedonia. His sister is a bully, his mom’s a doormat, and his dad is a striking factory worker who drinks and plays bingo. At school, Marko is tormented by thuggish fellow students, led by the loutish Levi, the son of a police captain. Marko’s teacher of Macedonian, a Bosnian, sees promise in Marko’s writing and gives the lad hope that he can someday escape Veles. A chance friendship with a thief who’s passing through town furthers Marko’s education. Is hope a mirage? What sort of fatherland is Macedonia?Read More »

“Jas sum od Titov Veles” is a story of three sisters who try to survive, though they seem ill equipped for the cruel society… (IMDb)Read More »

The life and times of Petar Chushko and his fellow peasants from the village Sushevo (Droughtville) are inextricably linked to the scarcity of their water supply. With the blessing of their priest, the villagers of Sushevo change the course of the local river and steal the waters of the neighboring village Kamenovo (Stoneville). A fight breaks out between the villages, their priests included. The peasants are brought before a judge for disturbance of the peace. The judge is corrupt enough to pronounce a verdict in favor of those who are prepared to pay more, so the water goes to Kamenovo. Meanwhile, there is no water at all in Sushevo and the villagers refuse to pay the water tax in protest. Read More »

The arrival of a young teacher, Damjan, in a Western Macedonian village disturbs the everyday routine of its multi-confessional residents. He is different from previous village teachers in many aspects. His youth, his life-style and his way with the students rouse the curiosity of the villagers. As a result, he becomes a welcome guest in many a village house. In one of them lives Dzemile, the very first girl he sees in the village and the sister of his newfound friend. He is attracted by the beautiful girl and begins to flirt with her, perhaps carelessly at first, disregarding the deeply patriarchal surrounding. A star-crossed love is born, doomed from the start. Their different religions do not spell a happy ending for the love affair, which is soon out in the open.Read More »

A newly established communist authorities in Yugoslavia face the moral challenge of how to deal with warriors of defeated side and other enemies of the regime.Read More »

Content:
Wishing to draw the attention of world public opinion to the situation in Macedonia under Ottoman rule, a group of Macedonian-socialists, sons of wealthy merchants from Veles, who live and study in Salonica, and who are strongly influenced by Russian nihilist literature and the Geneva anarchists, decide in April 1903 to make a series of attacks on various business concerns in which foreign capital has been invested. The targets of the attacks are the French vessel “Guadalquivir”, the Ottoman Bank, the Electricity plant and the G. P. O. in Salonica. The achievement of their aims means death for the activists themselves. But they give up their lives willingly for a holy cause – the freedom of Macedonia.Read More »

Content:
March 1903. The Ottoman Empire is in a process disintegration. Only Macedonia is not still liberated in the Balkans. The Macedonian revolutionary movement is in full growth. The Turks are trying to keep their last bastion in Europe. The Macedonian people are being exposed to the most severe oppressions as it is due to the revenge of the Turks for supporting and protecting the komitadji (komita – a local guerilla freedom-fighter). In such a case the Turks besiege a village where were a weeding ceremony is taking place. They shoot at the peasants, round them up and most of them are being taken away. The groom is among them. More than two hundred people are taken prisoner in the fortress. Read More »

IMDB rating: 8.3 / 10
First color film made in Republic of Macedonia. Based on a true story.

At the turn of the century, Macedonia is under the administration of the Ottoman Empire. Macedonian freedom fighters, in order to raise money for their cause, kidnap an American Protestant missionary – MIss Stone – and demand ransom for her return.

Whilst among her kidnappers, Miss Stone, who originally set out to convert Macedonians to Protestantism, was herself converted to the Macedonain cause for national independence. After her release she returned to the US where she campaigned for the Macedonian cause. Too bad American public opinion at the time equated ‘ransom’ with the tactics of Chinese brigands who also kidnapped American missionaries.Read More »

In 1918, after the Balkan Wars and the First World War, thousands of Macedonians immigrate to Bulgaria. Among them are pro-Bulgarian Macedonians who want to exploit the emigrants for their own political agenda. Infighting in the revolutionary organization VMRO leads to the assassination of a number of Macedonian freedom fighters. The victim of one such assassination in Sofia is Gjorche Petrov, a hero of the Macedonian revolutionary movement. He is killed by a young boy who is not aware he is assassinating one of the last true fighters for Macedonian freedom. The realization that he has become unwittingly involved with the pro-Bulgarian organization and was used to execute this vile act is a death sentence for the young boy. The story revolves around the psychic condition of the young assassin who becomes easy prey to the intrigues woven around him until the final moment – his death.Read More »