Republic of Macedonia, 2007, 102 min 
Direction: Teona Strugar Mitevska
Cast: Labina Mitevska, Ana Kostovska, Nikolina Kujaca, Dževdet Jašari, Peter Musevski
Awards: Silver Camera 300, Brothers Manaki International Film Festival, 2007, Special Jury Prize, Sarajevo Film Festival, 2007
Selection: Balkan Buster
The movie called Jas sum od Titov Veles, made by Macedonian director Teona Strugar Mitevska is going to be shown in the program of Balkan Buster Selection.
The movie shows a contemporary social context of Macedonia from a social and cultural aspect. It is a story about sacrifice and self-denial of the main heroine Aphrodite, about her determination to fight unfavourable living conditions and the rules according to which she and her two sisters live.
Aphrodite is 27, and she is mute. Contrary to her twin sister Safo, who is a personification of the modern life and high promiscuity, she is a withdrawn, serious, and very intelligent girl, still waiting for “the right one”. Third sister, Slavica, is 35, and she is a cured junkie. Because of her beauty, sisters decide to find her a husband who would help them financially. After their father’s death, their mother leaves them. Together, they run a household in a small town called Titov Veles, where it has been a while since any kind of prosperity existed. Everything is left to die, but they fight to find a way out…
Teona Strugar Mitevska managed to draw public attention to her director’s role already with her first movie Veta (2001) in Berlin Festival in the same year. Considerable festival successes follow with her second movie called Kako ubiv svetec (2004).
