The Woman Who Brushed Off Her Tears

There is a myth of a bus that traveled every day from Skopje, Macedonia to Belgrade, Yugoslavia during the NATO bombing in 1999. A similar bus is depicted in Veta. There are no specifics to the story. It is the creator's response to the horrors that have haunted the Balkans for the past ten years. The film does not offer an answer or take sides, it concentrates on the psychology of war and feeling of no exit.

Asja, a 45-year-old single woman living in Sarajevo, meets Zoran, a 46-year-old banker, at a dating event. Zoran is not there looking for love though, but for forgiveness. During the war in 1993 he was shooting at the city from the opposite side, and he wants to meet his first victim. Now, they both have to relive the pain in their search for forgiveness.

A Macedonian woman throws herself into a traditionally men-only ceremony, kicking up a ruckus and standing her ground.

On the day before Easter 2012, the bodies of four teenagers were found by the edge of a lake just outside Skopje. The bodies had been lined up, each with a bullet hole in their head. The boys had been on a fishing trip. The nation was shocked. Rumours run wild. It is a film about a country where life can come to a sudden end without cause or explanation.

Calcutta, India, August 1948. Teresa, Mother Superior of the convent of the Sisters of Loreto, is anxiously waiting for the letter that will finally allow her to leave her monastery and create her new order in response to the call she has received from God.

A promising debut feature tells the story of a young woman returning from America to discover the realities of life in Macedonia, that looks as if it will explode with all the soldiers, corrupt crooks and terrorist idealists.

Burdened by memories of their late father, three sisters struggle to escape the suffocating environment of the dying town of Veles. A contemporary story of urban decay, „Jas sum od Titov Veles“ employs a stark realism to depict the vivid landscape of post-Communist Macedonia.

"Makedonium: Dramaturgy of the Unfinished" is a collaborative film by director Teona Strugar Mitevska and artists Hristina Ivanoska and Jane Čalovski, based on the book of the same name by Ivanoska and Čalovski, which focuses on the story of "Makedonium", the most prominent memorial complex built in socialist Macedonia between 1969-1974 and reveals unknown pages of Macedonian history.

What would you do if you had 21 days left to live? What do you think you could do? This is a daring film, disturbingly honest, with a chilling melancholy to it, almost uncomfortable to view. Audacious, impulsive, and courageous, the filmmaker stands naked, laying it all out. Do we dare to look? Do you dare to listen when one addresses you so daringly?

Adela (11), a Romani girl from Skopje, lives in a ghetto with her mother and older sister, Zara. When her family faces a financial crisis, Adela’s mother is sure that the only solution is to sell Zara at the bridal market. Adela can’t accept this destiny for her older sister and takes matters into her own hands. After a few unsuccessful attempts to find a job, she decides to join a skateboarding contest even though, in her culture, skateboarding is frowned upon for girls. The only way she can learn how to skate and have a chance to win the contest is if she befriends the gang of skater girls from her school. Adela starts navigating between the two different cultures, where she finds herself caught between two very different models of femininity.

In “Spaces #3”, 7 internationally acclaimed directors shot, after commissioning by the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, a short film at home, making their own timely comment on the new reality that we live in. The project is inspired by the book “Species of Spaces” by the French novelist, filmmaker, documentalist, and essayist, Georges Perec and the days of quarantine. The idea is to create a film at home, using the environment, the people or the animals in that space. The only outdoor areas that may be used are outdoor living spaces, such as the terrace, the garden, the balcony and the stairwell. “Family” is Teona Strugar Mitevska's submission.

Told in a very abstract and poetic way, this love story – set in very unusual circumstances – is inspired by the refugee crisis, in which Macedonia played the unfortunate role of a transit country.

Alerik, a dreamy 16-year-old boy, lives with his grandfather in a country that is at war. When the old man is killed in a bomb attack, Alerik becomes obsessed by the wish to take revenge. From now on, the war has him firmly in its clutches.