Skopje, 18 April 2023 (MIA) – The film Foreboding (original title: “Janza”) which follows the life and work of Blazhe Koneski, a professor, scholar, poet, and one of the codifiers of the Macedonian language, will premiere on Wednesday at the Millennium Cinema in Skopje. The movie took three years to prepare and film, and it is a dramatic travel through time, what we are today, and what we will be tomorrow.

The film was made following motifs from Koneski’s Diary of many years, by the esteemed Macedonian documentary filmmaker Nikola T. Kalajdziski. It was produced by Contrast Film, and the producer is Zlatko Dimeski.

Aristid Filaktov is the editor, Zlatan Milivojevikj is the composer and Darko Spasovski is the sound designer. Dejan Dimeski and Petar Kochishki are the art directors.

The movie was made with the backing of the Agency for Film of North Macedonia.

At the press conference held Tuesday for the movie premiere, Kalajdziski said that they’ve unearthed new moments from Koneski’s personal and professional life.

“This movie is about the key figure of the 20th century in Macedonia, the time before Krste Misirkov’s Za Makedonckite Raboti, and after ASNOM, when the contemporary Macedonian state was constituted. The documentary has a motto, “I don’t think about the past, I think about tomorrow”. It’s a powerful paraphrase from my brief time with prof. Koneski. The movie contains everything we’ve been through as Macedonians, all our hopes and dreams and fears,” Kalajdziski said.

The movie is more than a biography, it talks about who we are and who we will be.

Blazhe Koneski is presented in the movie like he is here with us, having an inter-generational dialogue between him and today’s generations, the director added.

Professor Ljudmil Spasov of the “Blazhe Koneski” Faculty of Philology explained the film’s original title. Janza is a metaphor alluding to different meanings – suffering, joy, hope. Koneski used this word a lot in his works.

“The film is about a man who sits and communicates to us all of his trials and tribulations. I hope the movie offers the real man, who went through a lot and left traces that can never be erased,” Professor Spasov said at the press conference.

He added that the movie aims to unite us all and hopes that it will serve in schools as well.

Professor Elena Jovanova Grujovska, Director of the Macedonian Language Institute, said that Koneski’s life can inspire 2-3 more films at least, and that he is an inexhaustible source of inspiration.

Dejan Dimeski said that the film took 3 years, over 25 collaborators, and 40–50 days of recording to make.

“Making the movie for three years means that you keep revisiting the story. We recorded professor Spasov at least four times over those three years. As we progress, we reveal new things and conduct new interviews. We did not want to leave it unfinished,” he said. dk/sk/