The Macedonian feature film Golden Five had its world premiere yesterday at the Raindance International Film Festival in London with the premiere being attended by the director Goran Trencovski, producer Dejan Miloshevski and lead actress Jana Stojanovska.
“Golden Five is a profound and moving film,” the festival says in its official review. After the London premiere, meetings were held with film distributors interested in the movie, the production company Revolution has said. The Skopje premiere is scheduled on October 6.
Tickets are already sold out for several screenings set to take place in Strumica on October 7. Golden Five will be screened in Sydney on October 16 and in Toronto on October 23.
The latest Macedonian feature, funded by Macedonia’s Film Agency, is based on true events. Elderly academic Alavantie returns to his homeland, from which he fled during the oppressive regime of Tito after the execution of his childhood friends: student activists resisting the communist Yugoslav government and campaigning for an independent Macedonia. In 1951, the five friends were reunited with Alavantie, and their other childhood friend Gigi, in their home town just days before their arrest and execution. More than 50 years later Alavantie and Gigi, the only surviving members of the group, are again reunited. In the intervening years Alavantie has relentlessly investigated their deaths and has uncovered the truth about what really happened to the 'Golden Five'.
“A beautiful representation of period and contemporary Macedonia interweaves the story of 'The Golden Five', the events leading up to their execution and the aftermath decades later. While the film is very much a tale of the past, like all good stories about our history it informs us about our present, it warns of the consequences of zealous nationalism and the intolerance of the criticism of governance, but also provides a message of hope for those of us willing to accept the lessons of the past,” says the festival on its website.
