The film "Kajmak" by the most awarded Macedonian director Milcho Manchevski had the Italian premiere, in the selection of Bari International Film Festival.

This festival is one of the largest in Italy and is associated with two legendary names of Italian cinema - the director Felice Laudadio, who in his rich career was at the head of the Venice Festival and a number of important film institutions, as well as the film critic Enrico Margelli, who presented Before the premiere screening, "Kajmak" conducted the conversation with the author Manchevski. "Caymak" was followed by thunderous applause in the historic 120-year-old Petrucelli cinema, declared a monument of culture in Italy.

The Italian press heralded "Caymac" as a "brave film", and the festival said it was "A bold and contemporary work... A story of feelings and attraction that is not afraid to deal with uncomfortable subjects such as human trafficking and surrogacy".

At the press conference with Mancevski, the film critic Enrico Margelli gave great focus to the work with the actors, with praise for the uniformity of the acting and for the well-played roles. He noted that although the film is a comedy and deals with seemingly everyday situations, the demands from the actors were deep, entering the essence of the characters, and about the casting he said that, although it is about everyday situations in the film, Manchevski gave them scenes from the classics. Developing an interesting discussion on the subject of erotica in serious films, Marzelli said he regretted that there was less of it in film today, to which Manczewski commented that it was partly due to neo-puritanism, as he calls it, "and it's bizarre that neo-puritanism comes from the dictatorship of thinking from the left, which is supposed to be a libertarian and liberal vanguard".

He came to Bari Mancevski from Sofia, Bulgaria, where he was the head of the festival's jury, and at the same time a retrospective of his work was held, which included the Bulgarian premiere of "Kajmak". Manchevski's presence in Bulgaria was followed by great publicity and numerous interviews for the Bulgarian media.

From April 7, "Kajmak" will be shown in the regular program in cinemas across Bulgaria.

Writing about Mancevski's oeuvre, one of the most prominent Bulgarian cultural journalists, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, says in "Kultura" magazine: "Milcho Mancevski is a visionary magician... A master of the geometry of the naked human body, without it being the basis of his films, Mancevski creates some of the the most beautiful erotic scenes in contemporary European cinema - whether they are in the minor key of ghosts in "Shadows" or on an almost comical level in "Kajmak"... It doesn't even matter, because we are talking about absolute values... "Kajmak" is almost an anagram of 'Mothers'…”.

Earlier this month, Kaymak won the Special Jury Prize in the prestigious Directors' Week program at the Fantasporto festival in Porto, Portugal.

At the same time, "Kajmak" was also shown at FEST in Belgrade, where all three screenings were arranged in advance, and the cast of the film, who attended the premiere, experienced a huge applause.

"Kajmak" is Mančevski's seventh film, and it is a black comedy and a critique of petty-bourgeois morality and liberal tendencies in society. It was the most watched film in Macedonia in 2022, and had its world premiere at the Tokyo Film Festival.

"Kajmak" is a Macedonian-Danish-Dutch-Croatian co-production in cooperation with MRTV, and supported by Eurymage.

The main roles are played by: Sara Klimoska, Aleksandar Mikic, Kamka Tocinovski, Simona Spirovska, Ana Stojanovska, Filip Trajkovic и Petar Mircevski.

He is a producer Jane Kortoshev, director of photography Ulrik Boel Benzen, designer David Mance, installer Emil Nuninga, the music is by the Danish String Quartet and Igor Vasilev-Novogradska, the casting is on Milka Anchevska, and the mask of Mario Mikisanti.