Director Vardan Tozia strongly reacted to the decision of the Film Agency to cancel the competition to support Macedonian films for 2024 and not to support any project this year.

"Recently, the shocking decision of the Film Agency of the Republic of Macedonia to cancel and suspend the competition for film financing for the two calls in 2024 was conveyed to me, and I believe to the rest of the filmmakers. In translation: That moratorium will lead to the cessation of the creation of film works from next year, and that gap will isolate us from world trends. A move in the style of Zhivkov or Ceausescu. I was shocked by the silence and short-sightedness of the filmmakers – no reaction happened. The opportunism of the petty-bourgeois environment does not avoid the film industry. On the contrary. Some have piled up projects from past years, and are wisely keeping quiet. Some have a corrupt background from the recent past – and they remain silent. Some hope for future party support – and of course, they remain silent. There is no reaction from the Ministry of Culture (recently also for Tourism)," Tozia wrote on Facebook.

"The reasoning from the Film Agency is that irregular, illegal activities took place in the past contests. GOOD MORNING! And the sparrows know about all the crimes and corrupt activities in the past in that Agency, in "partnership" with some of the movie guys. They have my full support for legal accountability or criminal sanctions for the perpetrators. Find them. Judge them. But no. Instead, those who have loaded their bags may get a little rest. And the moratorium will apply to EVERYONE, because the Agency was in DEBT. Are we all guilty of corruption? "We are all guilty that the perpetrators are not brought to justice," writes Tozia.

"According to this analogy, if three corrupt agricultural factories are found, then food production should be stopped in all of Macedonia. Or if abuse of the irrigation systems is found in several municipalities, let the water supply be cut off for all. But this is culture. A small number of individual workers who work outside the framework of the budgetary, administrative voting machine. But it remains an indisputable fact that despite all the challenges, it is the film that represents our country in the best way for many years beyond its borders," says the director.

It is sad that institutions and productions from all over the world are already becoming aware of this blatant move. Now every filmmaker, who was in the advanced stages of international collaboration for a project, has to explain why his country implemented a moratorium on film financing. We realized that culture is not particularly important. It is important to advocate for IDENTITY, from all stakeholders who expect instant material gains. Come on, then, let's resort to rhetoric that is very fond of our political subjects. Can this modest move be characterized as NATIONAL TREASON? Does the impossibility of building cultural affirmation mean UNDERMINING THE MACEDONIAN IDENTITY? Or are those words reserved exclusively for cheap talkers at expensive business lunches? Macedonia is not represented by those chatters. It is represented by people who work with virtue and dedication - and there are such people in the culture as well. "Unfortunately, it turns out that those people are continuously punished," Tozia adds in the post.