Chichester Cinema at New Park
I AM FROM TITOV VELES
- Jas Sum Od Titov Veles
The 18th Chichester International Film Festival
Premieres, Previews & New Releases of European Cinema
It’s the legacy of the years under Tito that weighs heavily on Titov Veles, a small Macedonian town which not only bears the name of the Yugoslavian Communist dictator, but is still dependent on and subject to the influence of the factory built there under the regime, a factory that still spews its toxic waste out over the town, the pollution killing the people living there.
In her second feature film, director Teona Strugar Mitevska, through this image of the legacy of the past and its influence over the present and the future, combines personal experience, memory and impressions with an artistic sensibility that makes allusions to mythology, literature, poetry and painting to create a unique and deeply original work.
I Am From Titov Veles finds its originality through taking the viewpoint of the youngest of three sisters living in the small Macedonian town. Afrodita (Labina Mitevska) is a young 27 year old woman who has remained mute since the death of her wealthy owner, but struggling with an addiction to methadone, she relies on her sisters to set up the necessary arrangements.
Like Chekhov’s Three Sisters, each of the women feel like they are living in exile at home, longing to return to an illusory homeland and willing to do whatever is necessary to escape from Titov Veles.
The term Chekhovian is often misused to describe an intense chamber drama, but I Am From Titov Veles matches the author’s human observations in the truest sense of the term, and not just in its story of three sisters, but in the psychological and emotional veracity with which it touches on the wonder and the wretchedness of human existence without ever resorting to cliché, narrative contrivance or perceived truths. Consequently, the film demonstrates a true artistic sensibility, coming close to a masterpiece. (subtitles)
Macedonia · 
Slovenia · 
France · 2007 · Teona Strugar Miteevska · 102min
