Political Abuse of Cinema in FYROM: "Makedonija" TV Series

 
By Vladislav Perunović, correspondent of Olympia.gr from Skopje, the FYROM
The cinematography of the ‘Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’ (FYROM) still belongs to a genre agreed by consensus both by authors as well as producers of creating works narrowly focused on quite pronounced ethnocentrism which celebrates the “authenticity and continuity” of the “Macedonian” (FYROM Slavic nation branded as such since 1934) inherited while the FYROM was part of the former Yugoslavia prior to 1991. This period, the communist epoch (1945-1991) was a time of centralized communist propaganda in local cinematography known for production of quite crude representation of Anti-Greek (i.e 1971’s “Crno Seme” by director Kiril Cenevski) and (primarily) Anti-Bulgarian ethnic stereotypes.
The all pervading leitmotif in these patchworks of quasi-patriotism, communist propaganda, xenophobia was propagation of self-victimization of the newly-created nominally ‘Macedonian’ nation. By going beyond a mere exercise in ‘national building’, the filmography of FYROM from 1945 to present days has not produced anything else apart from “ethno-political” products – genres such as those of drama, comedy, topics such as existentialism, objectivism, universalism, art-house production etc. were totally ignored (with very few exceptions) as a possibilities for productions and paradigms of original authorship, regardless of existence of both financial and technical means and skills during the last decades.
The latest ambitious project started by the Ministry of Culture of the FYROM during the (now historical, decade-long) rule of country’s far-right strongman, former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski (VMRO-DPMNE), was the initiation of a joint Croatian-FYROM co-production of a TV series titled “Makedonija” (“Macedonia”), planned to have 130 episodes. The former government-sponsored media project, for which 5,200,000 USD were provided, currently in initial phase of production – represents a sort of filmographic encyclopedic entry for the country which monopolized this classic name of the Hellenic region located in present-day Northern Greece in order to saturate the viewers with a contrived, artificial set of plot under the pretense of historical drama.
 
The central feature of this by far most monumental cinematic work revolves about imagery, theatrics and scenery brought to life through leading actors’ melodramatic pursuit of answer – as mentioned in central part of the recently published trailer for the TV series – of the question “Što e Makedonija (What is Macedonia)?”.
 
The content involves both contemporary as well as early to mid 20th century local urban landscape in which protagonists confront each others with their brand of discourse – in this case, in its folkloric kind which potential foreign audience shall certainly find exotic – on “Macedonia” and “Macedonism”, in defiance of artistic imperative of originality as well as character and plot development.
 
A mish-mash of fictional events, both set in the (now abandoned) project “Skopje 2014” and in turn-of-the c(20th) entury Balkans, the nationalistic, one-sided and mono-dimensional imagery consist on the “eternal struggle” for “national emancipation” of “Macedonians”. Other neighboring ethnicities are represented as stereotypical bringers of malice upon the “Macedonism”
 
The film production company “Jadran Film, centered in Zagreb, Croatia, which experienced a decline since 1990’s from its once very prominent position of being a partner for American and West European cinema in the later half of the past century, most likely chose to produce this mediocre melodrama with nationalist-didactic content due to strong financial input. While this is understandable as a result of fundamental laws of exchange in market-based economies, acceptance of such monumental task as the TV series “Makedonija” which is in essence nothing more than far overstretched party propaganda video and, in essence, a potboiler for the firm, it clearly will harm its reputation.
 
More fundamentally, auditing of the project as well as the financial construction that the new SDSM-dominated government in Skopje that inherited the project, performed in recent days, shows quite marked discrepancies regarding issues such as funding, deadlines as well as general non-transparency of the commissioned TV series. Money laundering through fictional firms is mentioned as the reason behind the intention of the current Minister of Culture of FYROM, Robert Alagjozovski, to revoke any future support for the TV series. The encouraging connotation that the shallow and cinematically undistinguished ultranationalist theme and not only botched funding and technical irregularities is the reason for this decision offer some hope that official Skopje will distance itself from such and similar legacy projects which perpetuate disinformation and ethnic tensions. The TV soap opera/telenovela “Makedonija” (which, according to “Jadran Film”, found distributors in 9 unnamed countries so far) is an anachronistic effort of a kind that future film-making, a trend of long-standing tradition that the small central Balkan Republic should abandon in favor of plurality of genuine forms of artistic cinema.
 
At this stage, the new government in Skopje reacted appropriately and decisively, apparently motivated by the emerging trend in FYROM’s internal and foreign policy in which rationalism and realism took a lead from the counter-productivity of mass-media promoted hypernationalism. Attempts to create association of “Makedonija” abroad in a form of mass-entertainment through a mechanism of a Pavlovian reflex doesn’t serve the necessary and declared good will in the most recent phases of what seems as a steady rapprochement between official Skopje and Athens.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iXP4peB4as
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