Both digitally restored, Mirno Leto (A Quiet Summer, 1961) and Frosina (1952) will premiere on 11 and 16 June, respectively, at 20:00 as part of A Season of Classic Films. The films will be presented in special open-air screening events in Skopje and via live stream and they will remain free-to-view online for five days via the Cinematheque’s website.
Мирно лето [Mirno Leto] (A Quiet Summer) | Yugoslavia, 1961, 99′
Director: Dimitrie Osmanli (Димитрие Османли). Producer: Vardar Film – Skopje. Cast: Slobodan Perovic, Ljupka Dzundeva, Darko Dameski, Ilija Milchin, Petre Prlichko, Meri Boshkova, Ilija Dzuvalekovski, Stojka Cekova. DoP: Ljube Petkovski / Scriptwriter: Frida Filipovic / Music composer: Dragutin Savin. Physical characteristics of first release: 35mm, 99’, B&W, widescreen, sound, Macedonian. Film copy screened during A Season of Classic Films: New restoration. DCP, 99’, B&W, sound, Macedonian. Available subtitles: English. Copyright: Vardar Film – Skopje, Kinoteka na Republika Severna Makedonija.
The film tells the story of Mira and Zare, a young couple yearning for their summer peaceful vacation by the lake. They will get a chance to escape from it all when Zare, who is an anthropologist, is put in charge of the renovation of an old house by the Ohrid lake. The house is set to become part of the local ethnographic museum and he will spend the summer to develop the interior and the collections, while Mira hopes to paint and relax. The long-awaited retreat for the couple turns into a revolving door of uninvited relatives and friends who they thought they left behind in the city.
This is the premiere of a new 2K restoration to celebrate the film’s 60th anniversary, one of the most beloved films in the country as it is regarded as the first comedy produced in the Macedonian language. Upon its release in 1961, the film was a great success with more than 25.000 people watching the entertainment sensation in the two cinemas where the screenings were available.
The only surviving black and white internegative acetate print of Mirno Leto, preserved by the Cinematheque of North Macedonia, has been digitally restored. There are no complete original negative prints and only positive copies survive from past cinema distribution that are in a really bad condition and not adequate for screenings. The internegatives were scanned in 2K and processed by Click Film lab in Zagreb, Croatia. The sound was also digitally restored and a new 2K master was completed from which a DCP and other digital versions for access and archiving purposes are now available.
The premiere of the new restoration on 11 June will be introduced by Atanas Chuposki, Senior Filmologist at Kinoteka as well as a mini concert.
Фросина [Frosina] | Yugoslavia, 1952, 79′
Director: Voislav Nanovic (Воислав Нановиќ). Producer: Vardar Film – Skopje. Cast: Meri Boshkova, Aco Jovanovski, Petre Prlichko, Ilija Dzuvalekovski, Petar Veljanovski, Stojka Cekova. DoP: Kiro Bilbilovski / Scriptwriter: Vlado Maleski / Music composer: Trajko Prokopiev. Physical characteristics of first release: 35mm, 79’, B&W, standard 4:3, sound, Macedonian. Film copy screened during A Season of Classic Films: New restoration. DCP, 79’, B&W, sound, Macedonian. Available subtitles: English. Copyright: Vardar Film – Skopje, Kinoteka na Republika Severna Makedonija.
This is also a new restoration premiere. The film recounts the life of Frosina, who faces the fear of losing her only surviving child in the fight for freedom. The archetypal story of the mother devoting her life to raising children and taking care for her spouse and family interrogates the role of woman as a hero or a martyr for denying herself and her needs. Frosina is considered as the beginning of the feature film production of North Macedonia.
These two new restorations and special free-admission screening events are made possible thanks to A Season of Classic Films, an initiative of the Association des Cinémathèques Européennes (ACE) with the financial support of the EU Creative Europe MEDIA programme. Twenty-two film institutions from all over Europe, including the Cinematheque of North Macedonia, are taking part this year in A Season of Classic Films. The initiative offers free access to restored European films, connecting the public with cinema history and the preservation of film heritage.
A SEASON OF CLASSIC FILMS: PROGRAMME UPDATES
A SEASON OF CLASSIC FILMS: PROGRAMME CATALOGUE
ABOUT THE ASSOCIATION DES CINÉMATHÈQUES EUROPÉENNES (ACE)
The Association of European Cinematheques (Association des Cinémathèques Européennes – ACE) is an affiliation of 49 European national and regional film archives. Its role is to safeguard the European film heritage and make the rich audiovisual records collected and preserved by the various film archives accessible to the public. ACE is a regional branch of FIAF (Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film/ International Federation of Film Archives).
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