For the first time this year, the UCO is sending a few of its members to the 46th Manaki Brothers Festival, as we do for other festivals such as Camerimage and Chefs Op en Lumière.

This festival honors cinematographers from around the world who come to present their films, meet, and discuss through workshops, conferences, and round tables.

We will be joining some of our partners who are there to present their latest gear, and we will be covering the festival over the coming week through articles on our website and posts on social media, such as our popular “shot of the day”: a still from one of the films screened during the day accompanied by a short text to give you a glimpse of our experience there.

This festival takes place in a very special location, as it was here in Bitola that the Manaki brothers settled after making the very first film ever shot in the Balkans in 1905. This film of their grandmother, Despina, spinning wool in her native village of Avdella, was shot with their Bioscope camera, serial number 300, which gave its name to the festival’s awards, the gold, silver, and bronze “Camera 300” prizes.

We look forward to discovering this beautiful region steeped in cinema history and learning more about the story of these brothers, pioneers of cinematography.

Still from the first Manaki brothers movie “The Weavers”