Manaki 2024 – Reflections

Between the 21st and 27th of September, the 45th edition of the International Cinematographer’s Film Festival ”Manaki Brothers” was held in Bitola, North Macedonia, offering  a full week of lectures, workshops and endless film screenings. And what can be said about the Manaki festival that hasn’t already been said? It may easily be the nicest film festival out there. All of us invited to participate are treated like royalty in this extremely charming little town -and on top of that basking in 30 centigrade sunshine all day long. One wouldn’t be surprised if one got pinched in the arm and woke up having dreamt the whole thing, it’s that pleasant.  

Bitola’s ubiquitous characteristic dogs have gotten a small upgrade, they are all now earmarked so as to introduce a little more regulation, but they still stroll around as if they owned the place. And Bitola itself is as picturesque as ever with its spires and rooftops creating a fairytale skyline against the surrounding hazy blue mountains. Picking a handful of photos to accompany this article was almost an impossible task, so please check out the slideshow with many more photos!

When Hristijan Mickoski, Prime Minister of North Macedonia, handed over the Golden Camera 300 for Lifetime Achievement during the Saturday 21st opening ceremony in the Bitola Cultural Center, French cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel AFC ASC, admitted his mixed emotions over having his life’s work summed up somewhat early. ”A lifetime achievement award is a very strange thing”, Monsieur Delbonnel said, ”I’m not that old, I have other projects”. In his acceptance speech he also paid tribute to the Manaki brothers and their pioneering work in the early days of cinema, and expressed his gratitude at receiving the award, ”I don’t think my life is over, but the fact that I am on the list of cinematographers that I respect a lot, that is very important to me.” 

And a flattering fact to Scandinavians is that in 1998 the very first recipient of this award was Sven Nykvist ASC FSF, who is also featured prominently elsewhere during this year’s festival. 

But there is a strong focus on women in this edition of the Manakifestival, and so the Mayor of Bitola Toni Konjanovski presents the Special Golden Camera 300 Award for Outstanding Contribution to World Cinematic Art to Polish cinematographer Jolanta Dylewska PSC, who during the days to follow makes no less than two appearances, the first of which being a Masterclass the very next day.

During both her appearances, Mrs Dylewska is capably assisted in the translation from polish to english by Swedish cinematographer Karolina Pajak FSF. Widely celebrated for her work on the 2011 film ”In Darkness”, we learn that Mrs Dylewska has a very exciting and holistic approach to cinematography, for her the camera is a metaphysical object and she prefers to work on projects that make a change, including in her own life.

In addition to Mrs Dylewska’s Masterclass, Sunday offered a very full program indeed, opening with a Bruno Delbonnel press conference and the fascinating IMAGO exhibition ”I of the Lens”, followed by the IMAGO Master Chat with the Masters, moderated by Mustapha Barat and with Dante Spinotti, John Seale and Christian Berger as panelists. 

Other noteworthy presentations were ”Choosing the right Paint Brushes” on Tuesday, with Mustapha Barat ABC and Nancy Schreiber ASC offering their thoughts on lens choices, and Wednesday’s ”From Tribecca to Manaki, Behind the scenes of ’Family Therapy’ in which Mitja Licen ZFS explained how the Alexa 35 was utilized on that project.  

And as if this wasn’t enough, the festival days are invariably topped off with generous helpings of screenings of films in competition for Camera 300 as well as student films and documentaries

Christina Nowak very capably moderated the Thursday opener ”The Powerful Women of Manaki”, with a terrific lineup on stage: Birgit Gudjonsdottir, Oona Menges BSC, Teresa Medina AEC, Alice Brooks ASC, Nancy Schreiber ASC, Agniescka Szeliga ACO and Claire Pijman NSC. Regardless of one’s gender it was easy to relate to everything these fascinating women had to say on subjects ranging from the challenge to be creative in the face of professional difficulties, over parenthood and relationships, to strategies for coping with stress, such as yoga, finding a side job, etc. We all have to eat every day and to pay our bills, and there was a consensus among the panelists that the most stressful time is when one is not working between films or film projects.

It was a very inspirational presentation, and clearly the schedule has been cranked up considerably towards the end of the festival, since this one was immediately followed by ”Q&A with Talent Agents” featuring Kristen Billings and Barnaby Laws and moderated by Leitz’s Vika Safrigina. Quite valuable information is shared with the audience here, particularly from a cinematographer’s point of view. Today people are going to make their choices about who to hire as a DoP based on that person’s website and Instagram, and things are done so quickly these days that you are very likely to be judged already by the thumbnails to productions on your website. Your website should above all give the viewer an idea what kind of a person you are and what your creative passions are.

Friday started out with a presentation celebrating one of the foremost cinematographers of all time, and the first recipient of the golden camera 300 lifetime achievement award, entitled ”The Nordic Light. Sven Nykvist 100 years”, held by yours truly. It is well received by the audience and then it’s time for yet another eagerly awaited panel called ”First Steps Initiative”, this time featuring Fabian Wagner ASC BSC,  Teresa Medina AEC, Alice Brooks ASC, Nancy Schreiber ASC and Agniescka Szeliga ACO. Very capably moderated by Seth Emmons, director of communications at Leitz, and focussing on Mentoring and the challenge of funneling new inexperienced talents through film sets, we learn that mentoring young talents into the cinema industry is an uphill battle and Fabian gives us an example how he recently had to fight to get four mentors on board, at a total cost to the production of 12 000 pounds -on a 160 million dollar movie. 

A fun and emotional ceremony during the last days of the festival -and one that gets us out of the auditorium and into the sunny streets of Bitola- is the inauguration of stars dedicated to famous cinematographers on the walk of fame in front of the Manaki cinema. This year Sven Nykvist, Walter Carvalhos, Chris Menges and John Seale are all honored in this fashion.  John Seale has recently celebrated his 82nd birthday but you wouldn’t think so, he’s a very sprighty chap indeed, and he has an impressive filmography -and the stories to go with it. ”Witness” (1985)  ”The first feature I was hired to shoot in the US… And now it’s got the biggest moviestar in the world on board!” John remembers how he was petrified at having to work with Harrison Ford, and what a relief it was when he found out Mr. Ford was just a regular guy who just happened to work as an actor. In fact, for the L.A. part of the shoot Mr Seale figured he’d be staying at the cheapest motel he could find, but Mr. Ford offered him to stay at his house in L.A. since he would be off working on something else, and that’s what happened. The hilarious Richard Dreyfuss-Emilio Estevez buddy movie ”Stakeout” (1987) ”great comedy but a nightmare to work on” and ”Dead Poet’s Society” (1989) ”Oh, Robin Williams was brilliant in that, he really had that relationship to all those younger actors the same way his character had to them in the story, and he so loved the opportunity to do a serious dramatic role”.

Of course, Friday being the last day, that same evening brought the Grand Finale Ceremony of the entire festival, held in the Cultural Center. Awards are handed out left and right throughout the proceedings, and particular crowd pleasers among them were Sumolight’s Tim Zur bestowing the Creative Synergy Award upon Alice Brooks ASC and gaffer Dave Smith, as well as Nancy Schreiber ASC receiving the Shotdeck Trailblazer Award, all met with warm and prolonged ovations from the enthusiastic audience.

And true to form, a massive wrap party with hundreds of guests has been prepared at the nearby historical Military Academy building. Arriving early, and admiring the opulent smorgasbord of hors d’oeuvres and the armies of wine and champagne glasses waiting in formation, I was doubtful whether all this could really be consumed throughout the evening, but once the party got going and after some mingling among the guests, I decided to ask the waiters for a little topping-up… And no, not a drop nor bite left in the house, everyone had thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Lars Pettersson FSF