Guests 2017

Christine Cynn is an artist and director, known for “The Act of Killing” (2012), “Shooting Ourselves” (2016) and “Globalisation Tapes” (2003). She has worked for 20 years to document the human imagination, particularly in the context of extreme political violence, such as the 1965 Indonesian genocide. Cynn co-directed “The Act of Killing” with Joshua Oppenheimer, a film which was an Oscar nominee for Best Documentary Film in 2014, in which fiction film/making is used as a tool for understanding how mass murderers imagined themselves and documented how ‘playing yourself’ can be transformative. Cynn understands imagination as authentic virtual reality, structured mainly by narrative, and she is continuously playing with the ways of creating, telling and applying stories. Building on the blend of observation and dramatization developed in "Shooting Ourselves" and “The Act of Killing”, Cynn draws a wider frame around the fractured realities and real-life performances that constitute a global war machine.

The Macedonian premiere of the documentary film "Shooting Ourselves will be held on the 7. Philosophical Film Festival as part of the Special Screenings: Film meets Philosophy, followed by a Q&A with Christine Cynn (01.04, Cinematheque of Macedonia, 20.00h). Christine Cynn will also offer a Storyhacking Masterclass (31.03, Cinematheque of Macedonia, 13.00h) in the form of a hackathon for making stories (storyhacking game).

Ljubomir Cuculovski (b. 1948, Bitola) is a professor of Philosophy of Religion, Theories of Religion and Introduction to Philosophy at the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje. He graduated at the Institute of Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje. He received his master’s title at the Institute for Sociological, Political and Juridical Research in Skopje, and he received his PhD in philosophical sciences on the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje in 1992, defending his dissertation “Karl Marx: The Origin of Historical Materialism” (1841–1849). 

His philosophical interest is centered on the problem of human alienation, as well as the fundamental philosophical questions regarding God and God’s existence. He is particularly interested in the problem of the existence of evil in the world, under the assumption that the Almighty God has created the world.

As part of the Special Screenings: Film meets Philosophy there will be a projection of the cult film „Citizen Kane“ by Orson Welles followed by a presentation called "Revisiting" with Prof. Dr. Ljubomir Cuculovski and an open discussion with the audience. The event will take place after the Opening Ceremony on March 30, 20.00h, in the Cinematheue of Macedonia. Prof. Cuculovski will repeat the presentation on the PFF Caravan, after the projection of the film on 21.04.2017 in Sveti Nikole.

Ivan Jović is both, director and producer of 'The Healing' presented as part of the Special Screenings: Film meets Philosophy section of the Main Programme in Skopje. He has studied in parallel, on the Pedagogical Faculty (specializing in Special education and Rehabilitation) and at the film school Centre for Audiovisual Communication Square in Belgrade, Serbia. He has led a few educational and humanitarian programs directed to children and youth. Related to this work is the documentary film “I dream, and see what is happening” (Sanjam, a šta mi se događa, 2000) for which he is the co-scenarist and the film has gotten praise on a few international festivals of documentary film. He has written some books, among which two novels and has directed a few short films. His debut feature film “The Healing” (2014) has received a couple of international and domestic awards. In 2016 he finished the documentary film ‘Legacy’ after a five year directing and production work on the archival film project with the same name. In 2014 he has founded the production house TERIREM which, besides the above mentioned movies, develops feature and documentary projects. 

Monja Jović is born in Croatia, but has fled the country after the war. She has studied Serbian language and literature on the Philological Faculty at the University of Belgrade. For long years, she is working as an editor in one of the biggest publishing houses for textbooks in Serbia, and she has written and redacted many textbooks for elementary and high school education, as well as publications on philosophy of education and applied pedagogy. She has published scientific articles and took part in projects for alternative education. Monja is also the scriptwriter and one of the producers of “The Healing”.

As part of the Special Screenings: Film meets Philosophy a projection of the film "The Healing" of Ivan Jović & Monja Jović will be held, followed by a masterclass with the director and scriptwriter on the topic "Theology of Film - Writing with Light in 'The Healing' (31.03, Cinematheque of Macedonia, 20.00h).

Vangel Nonevski (b. 1977, Belgrad) graduated, earned his master’s degree and his PhD degree (“The Philosophical Foundations of Digital Aesthetics” in 2012) at the Institute of Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje. His first theoretical book “Musical bricolage: On the Elements of Direct Recycling in Contemporary Music” was published in 2003 by Magor. For almost three years (2008-2011) he wrote columns for several Macedonian media. He has translated six books from English and one book from Croatian language. His second theoretical book/reader – “The Turntable as a Metainstrument: From Mechanical Reproduction to Remix Culture” was published in 2014.

He worked as an editor/translator on the Macedonian web portal Okno (July – September 2012). He regularly writes and publishes articles, essays, reviews, researches and columns in the fields of contemporary aesthetics, cultural studies, philosophy of politics, new media studies etc., and attends regional and international conferences. He worked as an assistant on the Faculty for Philosophy in Skopje (2003-2011). Since October 2012, he is working as an assistant professor at the University “Euro-Balkan” in Skopje, and since 2015 as a visiting professor at the University “American College”.

As part of the Special Screenings: Film meets Philosophy there will be a projection of the film "Vanilla Sky" (2001) by Cameron Crowe, remake of "Abre los ojos" (Open Your Eyes, 1997)by Alejandro Amenabar, followed by a presentation on the topic „The Fiction of Cyberpunk as an Authentic Experience of Reality“ with Asst. Prof. Dr. Vangel Nonevski (03.04, Cinematheque of Macedonia, 20.00h). Nonevski will repeat the presentation as part of the PFF Caravan, after the projection of the film on 26.04.2017 in Bitola.

Stefan Sidovski was born in Skopje on October 3, 1946. After finishing his undergraduate studies in philosoph, in 1973, he started teaching ethics, aesthetic, pedagogy, philosophy and psychology in the high school “Rade Jovshevski – Korchagin” in Skopje. In 1995 he finished his graduate studies defending the thesis “The aesthetic essence of the film frame”, and in 2001 he earned his PhD after defending the thesis “Aesthetics and dialectics in film editing”.

Since his high school days he is engaged in making amateur films, first independently, and later as a member of the cinema club “Kamera 300”. Since 1975 he is a member of the “Academy cinema club”. He has been acknowledged as a “Master of Amateur Film-making” by the Macedonian Cinema Association. He is an author of over 100 independent movies which were part of many interclub and international festivals, many times awarded, but also suppressed. He is an author of many books and textbooks treating philosophy, aesthetics and film.

At the moment, Stefan Sidovski works as an associate professor teaching History of Film and Theory of Film at the University for Audiovisual Arts EFTA in Skopje and takes part in film festivals and other film related events in Republic of Macedonia.

Jasna Koteska is born on October 9, 1970 in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. She is a Macedonian theoretician, writer, and is a full Professor at the Department of Macedonian Literature and South Slavic Literatures at the Faculty of Philology “Blaže Koneski” – Skopje, where she holds the following courses: Slovenian literature of 19 century, methodics of teaching literature, postmodernism in Macedonian literature and film, and also post-specalistic courses on Lacan and the concept “abject” in literature and culture. She is a member of the Independent Writers’ Association of Macedonia, the Central European Research Institute Soren Kierkegaard (CERI-SK) in Ljubljana, and of several international academic boards. 

Koteska works in the fields of theoretical psychoanalysis, literary theory, and gender studies. Her work focuses on the 19th century philosophy and literature (mainly Freud, Kierkegaard and Kafka), early psychoanalysis, feminism, communism, and postmodernism. She works with the variety of topics, including intimacy, sanitation, trauma, abject, repetition, the screen memories concept, miniaturization, and gestures. 

As part of the Special Screenings: Film meets Philosophy there will be a projection of the film "Die Welle" (The Wave, 2008) by Dennis Gansel followed by a presentation of Prof. Dr. Jasna Koteska on the topic "The Wave: Human Psychology and Authoritarianism" (06.04, Cinematheque of Macedonia, 20.00h). Koteska will repeat the presentation as part of the PFF Caravan, after the projection of the film on 25.04.2017 in Prilep.

Dragan Prole is a university professor and head of the Philosophy Department of the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad. So far, he has published seven award-winning monographs and co-authored four books, as well as numerous translations of philosophical literature. He has held visiting lectures and seminars in Austria, Germany and Sweden. During his studies he had student stays at Humboldt University of Berlin (2002), Weimer (2003, 2004), Husserl Archives, Institute of Philosophy, Leuven (2005), Karl Franzens University Graz (2006), Institute of Philosophy, Karls Ruprecht University Heidelberg (2009), Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna (2010). His fields of interest are: ontology, phenomenology, philosophy of history, anthropology, aesthetics and media theory.

As part of the Special Screenings: Film meets Philosophy there will be a projection of the Macedonian film "Dust" (2001) by Milcho Manchevski. After the projection of the film, Prof. Dr. Dragan Prole will give a presentation inspired by Manchevski's film on the topic: : "Aesthetics and Violence: On the film ‘Dust’ by Milcho Manchevski." The event is planned to take place after the closing of the festival, April 7, in the Cinematheque of Macedonia, starting at 19.00h.

Giorgi Abashishvili is born in Tbilisi, Georgia. He graduated from Tbilisi Technical University at Faculty of Aviation in 1998. After that he moved to Germany and studied film directing at the University of Kassel/Department Film and Television (Prof. Yana Drouz and Prof. David Safarian), where he was choosen to become master student after his diploma in 2012. He is one of the founding members of NUR film group and LPP - Living Pictures Productions working as director of features and documentaries. He is the director of PFF's 2017 winning film ALL ABOUT PEOPLE, receiving the "Golden Owl" for Best Feature Film from, both, the jury and the audience of the 7. Philosophical Film Festival.

Miriam Steen is born in Hamburg, Germany. Studied film directing at the Dept. Film/Television (Prof. Yana Drouz and Prof. David Safarian) at the School of Art, University of Kassel. She's founding member of NUR film group (www.nurfilmgroup.de) and works as a director and author. As director: TICKET FROM THE PAST, 23min., 2016; WATERBACKPACK PAUL, 7min., 2015; FARMING IN 2020, 2min., 2015. As author: ALL ABOUT PEOPLE, 72min., 2016.

As the 2017 awardees of PFF, Giorgi Abashishvili and Miriam Steen are going to have a Special Projection of the winning ALL ABOUT PEOPLE on 5 June in Skopje (20.00, Monday), at the Cinematheque of Macedonia. A discussion with Mr. Abashishvili and Ms. Steen, and the reception of the “Golden Owls” awards are going to take place after the screening.