Macedonian Film Festival 2012

Overview

Now in its fourth year, the Macedonian Film Festival continues to provide an interesting counterpart to Hollywood and sees the Balkan nation punching above its weight on the cinematic stage. The two features on offer include Punk's Not Dead, a black comedy about a group of aging rockers coming together for a reunion show. Promising to be a darkly funny, decidedly un-PC affair, it's already been praised by Variety as having "more than its fair share of cantankerous charms". There's also a VIP cocktail party to celebrate the film's Saturday night screening.

Award-winning Mothers, unusually combining both feature drama and documentary in a three-part film, is the other feature screening and comes with impeccable pedigree, having previously appeared in programs at the Berlin and Toronto International Film Festivals. Director Milcho Manchevski has previously had success with this kind of format; his brilliant three-parter Before the Rain won a well-deserved Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film.

Image from Mothers (Majki).