THE MAGIC

of MAESTRO

The trains in Stole Popov’s films travel – they depart and return, moving as threads that metaphorically connect the hopes, wishes, joys, as well as absurdities of the human existence, yesterday, today… perhaps tomorrow?

In the unforgettable 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, in the art of the ex-Yu countries, people dreamed of and created something that falls under the terms freedom of thought, democracy… Remarkable works in all areas of creation were produced. New authors, new sensibility, revolutionary ideas… However, there was also a counterpoint – political one, of course! Others, on the other hand, dreamed of wars, genocides, bloodshed… The wounds stayed. But the works of art as silent witnesses of the following insane and absurd decade, the 1990s, remained, too.

Even with his first films (those he made at the Film Academy in Belgrade), it became clear that Stole Popov’s effectuated ability for what is known as “film thinking” will come up against numerous creative challenges in the future. And that is how it was. At the very beginning, I wish to define the things that are typical of Maestro Popov: in his approach to his works, as well as to the viewer/consumer of his works, he is fully oriented toward finding the most appropriate method for effective conveyance of the spiritual life of his heroes and the basic idea of his works.

Films

The Red Horse
Happy New Year ’49
Tatoo
Gypsy Magic
To the Hilt

Documentary

Drvnoindustrijski kombinat ‘Treska’
Alkaloid
Australia, Australia
Dae
Fire

International Film Festivals

San Sabastian, Montreal, Montpellier, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Madrid, Munich, Cairo, Rio De Janeiro, Stockholm, Oberhausen, Belgrade, Melbourne, Porto Alegre, Izmir, Puerto Rico, Moscow, Valensia, Brussel, Pula, Malme, Hong Kong, Budapest, London, Berlin, Herceg Novi, Vienna, Lille, Stuttgart, Vancouver, Uppsala …[/fusion_checklist ]

Awards

Stole Popov has won over 50 high European and World Awards and significant recognitions, particularly stand out 8 Grand Prix’s at different International festivals and two nominations, for “Oscar”(American Film Academy and “Felix”(European Film Academy).

“A movie director with style and vision”

Ron Holloway, Hollywood Reporter, USA

Over the years people talked about him, Let’s See What Some Have To Say?

“Happy New Year ’49…Absolutely impressive achievement!”

Miloš Forman, Movie Director, USA

Films with blazing characters and attached to the human passions.

Živojin Pavlović, Intervju, Belgrade

“Film Director with a style and vision!”

Ron Holloway, USA

Academy Award Nominated

Stole Popov was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short for the film Dae (1979).

“Tattoo” was nominated for the Felix Award in 1992 and was among the best 7 feature films.

Nominated for the European Film Academy Award

THE EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATION 1992

TATTOO – The movie, 1991

Just as dramatic a controversy on the 1991 international festival scene was Stole Popov’s Tattoo, the first feature film to bear the banner of the newly constituted staтe of Macedonia. The story of a cantankerous yet sympathetic individual who gets jailed for absurd reasons and then dies a victim of police brutality, Tattoo featured another outstanding acting performance by Meto Jovanovski as the “loser” Ilija and was the kind of timely sociocritical film document that does credit to a democratic society.

TO THE HILT |A MACEDONIAN STORY |

Motion Picture by Movie Director Stole Popov

Starring Inti Sraj, Sasko Kocev, Martin Jordanovski and Toni Mihajlovski the film unveils a harsh though romantic story in which the eternal Macedonian cause for own identity and independence is seen from the angle of illusion and relativity of freedom, justice, love, happiness, sacrifice, lies and treason. This is a film about the dialectical encounter between the myths and the anti-myths, a film in which legends and storytelling face the ongoing reality of the cruel life through Macedonian history full of super historical absurd. This film breaks down the barriers of the space where western and eastern civilization have intertwined for centuries.