On January 22, the Cinematheque of Macedonia held a promotion of the book "Milcho for Manchevski", edited by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Atanas Čuposki, and the book is the result of a 14-hour interview between Čuposki and director Milcho Manchevski.

The idea for the book "Milcho on Manchevski" arose quite spontaneously, and the initial goal was to do a short 10-minute interview about the latest film "Kajmak" with director Milcho Manchevski. After the date for the interview was confirmed, the idea arose to do an archival interview for the needs of the Cinematheque.

Such archival interviews have so far been made with several significant Macedonian filmmakers who have left their mark on Macedonian cinema, such as Trajce Popov, Branko Gapo and others, and in this period an interview with Stole Popov is also being recorded. After receiving consent for an archival interview from Manchevski, the filming began, which lasted almost two months and produced about 14 hours of audio and video material.

Practically, the book was created by transcribing the audio material from the archival interview. The aim of the book was not to make an autobiography of Manchevski, since he could write one himself if he wanted to, but rather it is a biography and filmography of Manchevski according to the questions asked by the editor Atanas Čuposki.

– The book is an attempt to cover the numerous aspects of the life and work of Milcho Manchevski, one of our most awarded and world-renowned Macedonian filmmakers – starting from the days of his youth spent in his native Skopje until today – his early interest in theater and film, his studies at a film academy in the USA, the beginnings of his film career, his teaching activity in New York, his attitude towards politics and politicians, etc. – and all of this is complemented by an exhaustive analysis of the method of production, working conditions, realization, collaborators, directorial explication and filmological analysis, distribution, festivals, the success or failure of his seven feature films and all other short films, as well as other manifestations of his creative personality – Čuposki points out in the preface to the book.

The promoters of the publication were MA Tatjana Kjurčinska-Pepeljugoska, Prof. Dr. Slavica Srbinovska and film critic Zlatko Gjeleski, and each of them made a review of the book and the film work of Milčo Mancevski from their own perspective. Tatjana Kjurčinska-Pepeljugoska focused on personal contacts and cooperation with Mancevski in terms of the promotion and distribution of his films, Slavica Srbinovska made a comparative review through the chapters of the book, while Zlatko Gjeleski drew a vertical line through the entire work of director Mancevski, also recalling films that Mancevski wanted to make, but failed to realize.

The book is a publication of the Cinematheque of Macedonia during the period when the director was Boško Grujoski, the editor of the publication was Petar Volnarovski, and the proofreader was Suzana V. Spasovska. The team that realized the interview consisted of Prof. Goran Naumovski, M.A., as an expert technical consultant, cameramen Ilija Pavlov and Filip Lafazanovski, and Bojan Stanisic as an organizer and logistical support during the period when the director of the Cinematheque was Vladimir Angelov. The extensive work of transcribing the entire interview was completed by the collaborators Milka Kapsarova-Zoksimovska, Suzana Smileska, Aleksandar Vasilevski, Petranka Mitrovska and Silvana Jovanovska.

(The text was published in "Cultural Press" number 265, in the printed edition of the newspaper "Sloboden Pechat" on 25-26.01.2025)