The laureate of the “Aster” award at this year’s 19th “Asterfest” is the Macedonian director and screenwriter Antonio Mitrikeski. Mitrikeski’s prize will be awarded at the opening of “Asterfest”, on August 1, at 20:30 at the Amphitheater in Strumica, and the statuette for the “Aster” prize was specially made by the Macedonian artist Nikola Pijamanov. On the occasion of receiving this prestigious award, Antonio Mitrikeski said:
– This award, to be the laureate of this year’s edition of “Asterfest”, is a privilege for me due to the fact that its bearers are significant names from the world of film, both Macedonian and international. I also share this award with all the filmmakers I have worked with, who are equally responsible for bringing my short and feature films to life. I want to thank the founder and president of the festival Mr. Goran Trenchovski, for the enthusiasm and dedication thanks to which he and his team managed to hold and position this film festival on the wider Balkan and European film scene. From my personal experience, I want to say that the path to the realization of a film work is complex, and full of confusion that a director, or a film author goes through, but it is interesting that precisely this uncertainty gives the greatest motivation to make the film as best as possible, to give one’s best. As a teacher, I have witnessed the successes of young directors, so future generations should be given the opportunity to make their debut more easily, and only their artistic values should be evaluated, and politics should not have any influence. Only in this way will we keep the young and successful people in Macedonia.
On August 2, at the “Goran Pandev” hotel, at 11 a.m., the traditional “Aster portrait” (Tiveriopol film sermon) for Mitrikeski will be held, at which the critic Stojan Sinadinov will speak. All of Mitrikeski’s films have been shown in the former editions of ” Asterfest”. For this occasion, on the evening of August 4, in the Amphitheater in Strumica, in cooperation with the Cinematheque of the Republic of Macedonia, there will be a special screening of the feature film “Across the Lake” by Mitrikeski, based on a script by Tashko Georgievski and Mitrikeski, with Nikola Mitrikeski, for the Strumica audience. Ristanovski and Agnieszka Wagner in the main roles.
“Across the Lake” is a film in which Constantine dreams of Elena, who is on the other side of the lake, and decides on an uncertain adventure, a trip across the lake in a boat – to reach her.