Bitola Goes Hollywood

I liken Bitola to the Los Angeles of Macedonia--the people are fashionable and they love to sit outdoors to see and be seen. Last week the city truly went Hollywood with the annual Manaki Bros. Film Festival. The Manaki brothers brought the first movie camera to Macedonia in the early 1900s, so the festival in their honor is dedicated to cinematography. For the first time as part of the festival, some Manaki films were shown. Black-and-white and silent, the films nevertheless were fascinating for the great architecture (of which I wish more remained) and style of dress remiscent of Turkey (lots of fezzes) because of the then-recent separation from the Ottoman Empire.

Actress Darryl Hannah was honored with an award at the festival and I wondered what the audience at her talk thought about her story about getting arrested for protesting coal mining when coal is the top employer in Bitola.


Every day I saw at least one movie, with the $1 ticket price nicely fitting my Peace Corps budget. My favorite was "Four Lions," a movie that takes what is seemingly totally unfunny--jihad--and makes it into a bittersweet British comedy. To close the festival, the U.S. Embassy held a reception and I got my picture taken with the U.S. Ambassador to Macedonia, Philip Reeker. Never did I envision dignitaries and cinema figuring into my Peace Corps service--I guess there's no denying that I'm in the Posh Corps.