Skopje, 7 May 2024 (MIA) — Macedonian filmmaker Goce Cvetanovski's debut feature, the political thriller on human trafficking "The Business of Pleasure" (2023), has won a prestigious Silver Remi Award in the Foreign Features category from the 57th WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival. 

"This is a great success. Being awarded in a competition of over 4,000 films from 70 countries is a recognition confirming the aesthetic value of the film. We are definitely in good company, considering who has won the Remi award in the history of the festival," the filmmaker said in a press release, adding that the Macedonian premiere of the film was scheduled for September.

The WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival, founded in 1968, is an annual film festival held annually in April in Houston, Texas.

Previous Remi award winners Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Ang Lee, the Coen brothers, Ridley Scott, Brian de Palma, Oliver Stone, Robert Rodriguez, Spike Lee, and David Lynch, the release notes.

"The Business of Pleasure" has so far won nine international film awards, including five for best feature film.

In the US, the film won Best Feature at the 2024 Riverside International Film Festival in California and Best Impact Film at the 2024 Sedona International Film Festival in Arizona.

The cast consists of Musa Isufi, Slagjana Vujoshevikj, Ismail Kasumi, Damjan Cvetanovski, Osman Ahmeti, Eleni Dekidis, Mendim Murtezi, Egzona Salihu, Avni Dalipi and Katerina Kocevska.

Cvetanovski wrote and directed the movie, producing it with Driton Ramadani and Bogdan Jonchevski.

 It was filmed with the support of the Film Agency of North Macedonia. mr/