Manaki Brothers Festival

This is my first time at the Manaki Brothers Festival and from early morning till late at night, I am filled with the joy of listening, talking and thinking about filmmaking. So much so that I have decided to make a few portraits of Directors of Photography from my day to day encounters, whether between two screenings or from rubbing shoulders at the Epinal Café. These exchanges are rich and passionate and I hope you find this journal inspiring.

It’s my first Manaki Brothers film festival and I am really thrilled to watch movies whilst paying particular attention to the cinematography.To be able to listen, talk and think about cinematography with my peers and mentors in person is a real treat.
Whilst here I have decided to make portraits of the cinematographers I meet and I talk with, from the coffeeshops of Bitola to the streets between the two screening venues.

Chronicles of a Wandering Saint is a first film from Argentina, directed by Tomás Gómez Bustillo and shot by Pablo Lozano. It features a woman of around sixty years old, living in a very rural community who is about to discover a providential lost statue. With her husband, she suddenly shares a plan to set a kind of funny miracle... But everything isn’t going to turn out exactly as she thought.
Recently released in Argentina, with real success (more than six weeks of theatrical release), this fantastic comedy is in official selection for the 300 Camera at Manaki 2024. (FR)

In The Gate, a documentary on the psychological and human toll of war on veterans and soldiers’ families, directors Michael David Beamish and Jasmin Herold paint a particularly bleak portrait of America. Blending a style that at times resembles fiction with classic documentary elements - such as voiceovers and everyday life - The Gate is shot and edited by Dutch cinematographer and director Claire Pijman, NSC. While in Bitola, she discussed this unconventional project, which was filmed in two sessions separated by the pandemic. (FR)

John Seale, ACS, ASC is one of Australia’s most famous director of photography (along with Dean Semler and more recently Greig Fraser). Working with his compatriot and director friend Peter Weir on most of his greatest films (Picnic at Hanging Rock, as cameraman, then Witness and The Dead Poets Society) he is also the DoP of several George Miller films (including Lorenzo’s Oil or Mad Max Fury Road).
He also won the 1996 Best Picture Academy Award for The English Patient, by Anthony Minghella. He is the president of the jury of the 45^th Manaki Brothers festival and comes to talk to us, among other things, about colors, control and tolerance.... (FR)

Simeon Moni Damevski was appointed director of the Manaki Brothers festival three years ago. Overflowing with enthusiasm and kindness towards his guest, he explains why this festival dedicated to cinematography, organized in a small town in Northern Macedonia, is so special to him. (FR)

Doubly honored in 2023 (at the Manaki Brothers Festival and soon at Camerimage), British cinematographer Peter Biziou, BSC, shares with us some memories from his long and prestigious career on commercial and fiction sets. Although Mississippi Burning (Oscar for Best Cinematography in 1989) was undoubtedly his highest distinction, his name has appeared in the credits of films such as Monty Python’s The Life of Brian, Richard Loncraine’s Richard III, or Peter Weir’s The Truman Show. (FR)

Seamus McGarvey, BSC, ISC, ASC, was one of the guests of honor at the 44^th annual Manaki Brothers Festival. He recently received the Camera 300 career award. Cinematographer of over 50 feature films, some of the most remarkable are Stephen Frears’ High Fidelity, Stephen Daldry’s The Hours, Gareth Edward’s Godzilla, and Joe Wright’s Anna Karenina and Atonement. He recently finished work with the same director on the Italian series “M” dedicated to the life of dictator Benito Mussolini. He discusses this 130-day marathon shoot, how to manage the unexpected on set, and artificial intelligence. (FR)

A gem from Estonia, this film was given a special screening at the Manaki Brothers Festival this year. The Sleeping Beast is a rather implacable study of human nature, remarkably well-acted by a group of five children aged around 12 and a little girl younger than them. Elen Lotman, ESC, Estonian cinematographer, discussed her very sensitive cinematographic choices for filming this captivating story which threads its way between the reality of the adult world and the fantasy world of children left to their own devices. (FR)

The closing ceremony of the 40^th-annual Manaki Brothers Festival was held on Saturday, 21 September 2019 in Bitola (Republic of Northern Macedonia), in the Great Hall of the local Palace of Culture. The jury, which was presided over by Ed Lachman, ASC, presented the golden Camera 300 award to Hélène Louvart, AFC, for her work on The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão, by Karim Ainouz. Due to her inability to be present in person, the award was accepted on her behalf by Eric Gautier, AFC. Yorgos Arvanitis, AFC, GSC, received the Golden Camera 300 for Life Achievement Award.

I’m at Bitola, in Macedonia, for a Festival dedicated to cinematographers everywhere in the world: the “Manaki Brothers” Festival. In 1905, these two brothers began to film daily life in the Balkans. I’ve been here for a few days and here are my first impressions.