Macedonia Timeless
Encyclopedia
Macedonia Timeless is a series of promotional tourist videos about the Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...

. The videos showcase scenery from the Balkan country and of Macedonian culture to a foreign audience. Each video of the project is the work of a private production company, carried out on behalf of the Macedonian government, which officially funds the effort. The purpose of the project as it is defined is "to promote awareness of Macedonian tourism opportunities".

Production history

The first video in the series was directed by Macedonian film-maker Milčo Mančevski
Milco Mancevski
Milcho Manchevski , usually credited as Milcho Manchevski, is a film director and screenwriter from Macedonia.-Biography:Milcho Manchevski wrote and directed the feature films "Before the Rain" , "Dust'" , Shadows" and "Mothers" , over 50 short forms, including “TENNESSEE” for Arrested Development...

, best known for directing the Academy award nominated, Before the Rain
Before the Rain (film)
Before the Rain is a 1994 Macedonian film starring Katrin Cartlidge, Rade Šerbedžija, Grégoire Colin, and Labina Mitevska. It was directed and written by Milčo Mančevski. The music was created by the band Anastasia.-Plot:...

. Filming started in October 2008 and the production company Senka film was allocated a budget of €190,000 by the government to complete the one-minute video. Kiril Džajkovski
Kiril Dzajkovski
Kiril Džajkovski , often credited as simply Kiril, is an internationally acclaimed Macedonian electronic musician and music composer.-Biography:...

 arranged a version of the traditional Macedonian song "Uči me majko, karaj me
Uci me majko, karaj me
Uči me majko, karaj me |ethnic Macedonian]] folk singer Aleksandar Sarievski, while the band Leb i Sol have arranged a modern rock version.. The song is also performed by Macedonian singer Tose Proeski and Bulgarian singer Kiril Kostov....

" for the soundtrack.

The video begins with a father reading a book to his daughter.. After opening the book, a montage of various Macedonian localities is shown, including Prespa
Prespa
Prespa is a region in Republic of Macedonia. It shares the same name with the two Prespa lakes which are situated in the middle of the region. The largest town is Resen with 9,000 inhabitants....

, Veles
Veles (city)
Veles is a city in the center of the Republic of Macedonia on the Vardar river. The city of Veles is the seat of Veles Municipality.-Name:The city's name was Vylosa in Ancient Greek and before the Balkan Wars, it was a township with the name Köprülü in the Üsküp sandjak, Ottoman empire for 600...

, Ohrid
Ohrid
Ohrid is a city on the eastern shore of Lake Ohrid in the Republic of Macedonia. It has about 42,000 inhabitants, making it the seventh largest city in the country. The city is the seat of Ohrid Municipality. Ohrid is notable for having once had 365 churches, one for each day of the year and has...

, the monastery of St. Jovan Bigorski
Saint Jovan Bigorski Monastery
The Monastery of Saint Jovan Bigorski is a Macedonian Orthodox monastery located in the western part of Macedonia, near the road connecting the towns of Debar and Gostivar....

, Kokino
Kokino
Kokino is an important archaeological site and a megalithic observatory discovered in 2001 by archeologist Jovica Stankovski in the northeastern Republic of Macedonia, approximately 30 km from the town of Kumanovo, near the village of Staro Nagoričane Latitude: 42.260000N Longitude: 21.850000E....

, Stobi
Stobi
Stobi was an ancient town of Paeonia, later conquered by Macedon, and later turned into the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia Salutaris . It is located on the main road that leads from the Danube to the Aegean Sea and is considered by many to be the most famous archaeological site in the...

, Kurbinovo, Konopište and the capital of Macedonia, Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...

. Archaeological discoveries found on the territory of the country were also shown, along with depictions of Alexander The Great and Prince Marko
Prince Marko
Marko Mrnjavčević was de jure the Serbian king from 1371 to 1395, while de facto he ruled only over a territory in western Macedonia centered on the town of Prilep...

. It was released in nine languages: Macedonian
Macedonian language
Macedonian is a South Slavic language spoken as a first language by approximately 2–3 million people principally in the region of Macedonia but also in the Macedonian diaspora...

, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...

, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

, Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 and Albanian
Albanian language
Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...

. The video premiered on 24 December 2008, and was aired on CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...

 and CNN International
CNN International
CNN International is an international English language television network that carries news, current affairs, politics, opinions, and business programming worldwide. CNN is one of the world's largest news organizations. It is owned by Time Warner, and is affiliated with CNN, which is mainly...

 the day after.

Reception

Reactions to the video by local media were largely favorable, although some criticism was reported that involved questions on the originality of the concept, likening it to a 2006 Georgian
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

 promotional video. Others complained that the video presented Macedonia solely as a Christian country. Complaints were reported from Bitola
Bitola
Bitola is a city in the southwestern part of the Republic of Macedonia. The city is an administrative, cultural, industrial, commercial, and educational centre. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba and Nidže mountains, 14 km north of the...

, Prilep
Prilep
Prilep is the fourth largest city in the Republic of Macedonia. It has a population of 66,246 citizens. Prilep is known as "the city under Marko's Towers" because of its proximity to the towers of Prince Marko.-Name:...

 and cities in Southeastern Macedonia
Southeastern statistical region
The Southeastern Statistical Region is one of eight arbitrary statistical regions in the Republic of Macedonia. Southeastern, located in the southeastern part of the country, borders Greece and Bulgaria...

 for not presenting them in the video.

Technical aspects also drew attention. In the 13th second, reflectors can be clearly seen near the house in Veles
Veles (city)
Veles is a city in the center of the Republic of Macedonia on the Vardar river. The city of Veles is the seat of Veles Municipality.-Name:The city's name was Vylosa in Ancient Greek and before the Balkan Wars, it was a township with the name Köprülü in the Üsküp sandjak, Ottoman empire for 600...

, and viewers criticised the production for not noticing what they considered to be a mistake. However, director Mančevski explained that they were deliberately left in the shot for artistic purposes. Viewers also pointed out that in the 24th second, the scene that is assumed to be depicting a young Alexander The Great contains technical mistakes in the background.

Despite internal criticism, the video received a favourable review from Bradt travel guides, and won First Prize at the International Festival for Tourist films in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

.

Controversy with Greece

Early from the release of the first video criticism arose from Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 regarding the historical accuracy of the videos, that it regarded as alluding through imagery and symbolism a connection of the modern country to the ancient kingdom of Macedonia. Bad reception in Greece also stems from the long running dispute
Macedonia naming dispute
A diplomatic dispute over the use of the name Macedonia has been an ongoing issue in the bilateral relations between Greece and the Republic of Macedonia since the latter became independent from former Yugoslavia in 1991...

 regarding the use name "Macedonia" which is also the name of a neighboring Greek province
Macedonia (Greece)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of Greece in Southern Europe. Macedonia is the largest and second most populous Greek region...

. Greek sources also claimed that the official campaign wrongfully used artifacts belonging to ancient Greek history. Senka film denied the claims, affirming that all the archaeological discoveries used, were found on Macedonian territory.

Second Macedonia Timeless video

The second video titled Macedonia Timeless sequence was made by "Pristop- MK" production. The director of the video is Igor Ivanov - Izi and the script-writer is Igor Toševski. Director of the photo is Dzaljs Natdzens and the director of photography is Nina Velnikj. The costumes are by Žaklina Krstevska and Blanka Budak. On the video worked 80 professionals from Macedonia, Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

, and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The video was filmed during April and May 2009 with 35 mm quality camera. The worth of the video is €200,000. Its length is 75 seconds, but also shorter versions of the same video were produced. The composer of the music is Origjanski Zlatko. In the video are entwined the Ancient
Ancient history
Ancient history is the study of the written past from the beginning of recorded human history to the Early Middle Ages. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, with Cuneiform script, the oldest discovered form of coherent writing, from the protoliterate period around the 30th century BC...

, Medieval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

 and the Modern period of Macedonia. The video was filmed in several locations: Matka, Ohrid
Ohrid
Ohrid is a city on the eastern shore of Lake Ohrid in the Republic of Macedonia. It has about 42,000 inhabitants, making it the seventh largest city in the country. The city is the seat of Ohrid Municipality. Ohrid is notable for having once had 365 churches, one for each day of the year and has...

, Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...

, Galičnik
Galicnik
Galičnik is a mountain village in the Republic of Macedonia and along with Lazaropole is one of the two biggest and oldest Mijak villages in the region. Galičnik has well preserved traditional architecture, including an amphitheater in the village square and is famous for its surrounding...

, Saint Jovan Bigorski Monastery
Saint Jovan Bigorski Monastery
The Monastery of Saint Jovan Bigorski is a Macedonian Orthodox monastery located in the western part of Macedonia, near the road connecting the towns of Debar and Gostivar....

, Stobi
Stobi
Stobi was an ancient town of Paeonia, later conquered by Macedon, and later turned into the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia Salutaris . It is located on the main road that leads from the Danube to the Aegean Sea and is considered by many to be the most famous archaeological site in the...

, Vitačaevo etc. The video is made in two versions: English and Macedonian. The touristic video had it promotion on 12 June 2009 in the cafe Trend in Skopje. On 15 June the video for the first time aired on CNN and CNN International.

Third Macedonia Timeless video

The third video in the series was shot, but it was not yet presented to the audience. The director of the video is Gjorče Stavrevski.

Macedonia Timeless Temples

Macedonia Timeless Temples (in Macedonian
Macedonian language
Macedonian is a South Slavic language spoken as a first language by approximately 2–3 million people principally in the region of Macedonia but also in the Macedonian diaspora...

: Македонија Вечна Храмови) is the fourth video in the Macedonia Timeless series. The theme of the video is the temples (churches, monasteries and mosques) all over Macedonia. The director of this video is Milčo Mančevski
Milco Mancevski
Milcho Manchevski , usually credited as Milcho Manchevski, is a film director and screenwriter from Macedonia.-Biography:Milcho Manchevski wrote and directed the feature films "Before the Rain" , "Dust'" , Shadows" and "Mothers" , over 50 short forms, including “TENNESSEE” for Arrested Development...

, the director of Macedonia Timeless 1. The music is a remix by the Macedonian folk song "Uči me majko, karaj me" made by Kiril Džajkovski (the nearly same music was used in Macedonia Timeless 1). The producer of the video is Elena Staniševa. The video was filmed over two months in different locations: Zrze, Varoš, Matka, Veljusa, Veles
Veles (city)
Veles is a city in the center of the Republic of Macedonia on the Vardar river. The city of Veles is the seat of Veles Municipality.-Name:The city's name was Vylosa in Ancient Greek and before the Balkan Wars, it was a township with the name Köprülü in the Üsküp sandjak, Ottoman empire for 600...

, Mustapha Pasha Mosque
Mustapha Pasha Mosque
Mustafa Pasha Mosque is a mosque located in the Old Bazaar of Skopje, Macedonia. It stands on a plateau above the old bazaar and is one of the most beautiful Islamic buildings in Macedonia. It was built in 1492 by Mustafa Pasha, vizier on the court of Sultan Selim I. The mosque is elegant and...

 and GTC Trgovski Centar in Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...

. The video was edited with different effects.

Macedonia Timeless: Ohrid - The City of Light

The fifth video is dedicated to the city of Ohrid
Ohrid
Ohrid is a city on the eastern shore of Lake Ohrid in the Republic of Macedonia. It has about 42,000 inhabitants, making it the seventh largest city in the country. The city is the seat of Ohrid Municipality. Ohrid is notable for having once had 365 churches, one for each day of the year and has...

. The video was promoted by the marketing agency "New Moment". On 2 July for first time it aired on CNN and CNN International.

The video is called Ohrid - the city of light. Inspiration for the title gave the old name of Ohrid, "Lichnidos" (in Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

 meaning the city of light). In the sixty seconds are shown the landmarks of the "Balkan
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...

 Jerusalem" famous for its art, religion, churches and monasteries. All that is narrated throw a visual game of the lightening and the shadows.

The video is an idea of the "New Moment" agency. The script writer and the director of the video is Dušan Drakalski, director of photography is Slobodan Trnik - Trn, photographer is Georgi Klinčarov and the producers of the video are Filip Dimitrov and Goran Sazdanovski. The video was filmed in five days and in it are shown some locations in Ohrid: Plaošnik
Saint Panteleimon, Ohrid
Saint Panteleimon is a monastery in Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia situated on Plaošnik. It is attributed to Clement of Ohrid, a disciple of Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius...

, village Trpejca, Monastery of Saint Naum
Sveti Naum
The Monastery of Saint Naum is an Eastern Orthodox monastery in the Republic of Macedonia, named after the medieval Saint Naum who founded it. It is situated along Lake Ohrid, south of the city of Ohrid....

, Saint Perivlepta, the old city and the Robevi family house
Robevi family house
The Robevi House is a famous and historic building in Ohrid, Macedonia. It was built in its current state in 1863–1864 by Todor Petkov from a village Gari near Debar...

. In the making of the video was included a team of 70 people and a budget of € 80,000.

In the video are present some well known Macedonians: Karolina Gočeva
Karolina Goceva
Karolina Gočeva, often credited as Karolina Gocheva is a Macedonian singer. She represented Macedonia in the 2002 and 2007 Eurovision Song Contests, ranking 19th and 14th, respectively...

, Meto Jovanovski and Nikolina Kujača. The video will be shown in two versions - one with the music made by the composer Duke Bojadziev and the other with the music of the band "Foltin".

Macedonian Wine -Timeless

The sixth video is dedicated to the Macedonian wine
Macedonian wine
The Republic of Macedonia produces wine on some of vineyards, and the production was 108,100 tonnes in 2008. There are also some additional of vineyards dedicated to table grapes....

. The video was promoted by the marketing agency "T-Reks" in Skopje on November 20, 2009.
Тhe video is worth around 120,000 euros. It will be broadcast on television channels worldwide. Video director is Ivo Trajkov, the scenario is written by Zlatko Kalenikov, and as chief protagonist appears actor Nikola Ristanovski. Director of photography is Suki Mendečević and the music is written by Kiril Džajkovski. In the video there are vineyards typical for Macedonia, like Tikveš
Tikveš
Tikveš is a plain situated in central Republic of Macedonia which is known for an artificial lake. It is home to the towns of Kavadarci and Negotino. Famous for its wine, Tikveš is the center of the Macedonian wine production which has been cultivated for more than 120 years...

, Negotinsko, Skopje, Galičica, the vineyards of Bovin and Skovin, as well as recognizable locations Plaošnik
Plaošnik
Plaošnik or simply Plaoš is an archaeological site and holy place in Ohrid, 250 meters below Samuil's Fortress. In the future, the whole complex will have konaks as in the time of Saint Clement of Ohrid, together with several surrounding objects.-St...

 and Ohrid Old Town
Ohrid
Ohrid is a city on the eastern shore of Lake Ohrid in the Republic of Macedonia. It has about 42,000 inhabitants, making it the seventh largest city in the country. The city is the seat of Ohrid Municipality. Ohrid is notable for having once had 365 churches, one for each day of the year and has...

.
According to the director Trajkov, the video is designed as a story, used parts of the adventures of Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones
Colonel Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., Ph.D. is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg created the character in homage to the action heroes of 1930s film serials...

, James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...

 and Goce Delčev to be recognizable in the world.

Awards

  • the first video in the series won the first prize at the International Festival for Tourist films in Warsaw
    Warsaw
    Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

    , Poland
    Poland
    Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

     for .

  • The second video won an award in the festival for tourist commercials APT&TUR in Portugal
    Portugal
    Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...


External links

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