INDUSTRY MANAKI BROTHERS FESTIVAL
MANAKI FESTIVAL IN FOCUS As the famous celebration of cinematography prepares for its 47th edition, we sit down with festival director Dimitrija Doksevski to find out more about the event and its extraordinary legacy
“IF someone had told me a few years ago that I would one day be leading the world’s oldest festival for cinematographers, I would probably have smiled politely and gone back to rehearsal,” laughs Dimitrija Doksevski, director of the Manaki Brothers Festival. An actor by trade, Doksevski has enjoyed a varied career on stage and in front of the camera, starring in films including the acclaimed war drama The Third Half in 2012. He believes that, while the festival undoubtedly has an extraordinary heritage – hosting luminaries from Roger Deakins to Sven Nykvist and Vittorio Storaro, and boasting a reputation as one of the world’s most revered film festivals – it must remain ‘alive, curious and relevant’. “I see the festival as much more than a week of screenings,” he elaborates. “It is a meeting place for artists, students, audiences and industry professionals, and a place where experience is shared across generations and across cultures. If people leave having discovered a new filmmaker, begun a lifelong collaboration or simply fallen in love with cinema all over again, then we have done our job!” The event takes place each autumn in the historic town of Bitola, Northern Macedonia, taking its name from founders Yanaki and Milton Manaki, who were pioneers of cinematography in the region. Their first piece, a silent black & white film that depicted their grandmother spinning wool, is believed to be the first film shot in the Ottoman Balkans. As their reputation grew, the brothers were invited to become the official photographers of the Ottoman sultan and the king of Yugoslavia, Alexander Karađorđević. They would go on to open their own cinema in Bitola, as well as becoming known for photographing historical events such as the Ilinden Uprising and World War I. “Every year we speak about the Manaki brothers, and every year I become increasingly convinced that their importance goes far beyond the historical fact that they were among the first cinematographers in the Balkans,” muses Doksevski. “When Yanaki and Milton pointed their camera at ordinary people, they were preserving time itself. The famous image
WORDS NICOLA FOLEY IMAGES HAEIN SHIM
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