In the Macedonian Film Agency on 20 April 2017 was held a press conference organized by distribution company “Cutaway” from Skopje, Macedonian Film Agency and the Creative Europe Desk MEDIA MK. The occasion for the meeting with representatives of the media was the international project “Cutaway online and offline: New digital forms of film distribution in the Balkans”, which is supported by the MEDIA sub-programme of Creative Europe in the call for On-line distribution and where Macedonia is a leader. The project is consisted of cinema and online distribution of Dutch children comedy “The Little Gangster”, which from 20 April is showing in the theaters in Macedonia, Croatia and Albania, synchronized on the languages of these three countries as well as on Video on Demand platform Cinesquare.net, which was also promoted and which is realized with the support of the “Eurimages”. Both projects are supported by the Film Agency of RM.
- “Cinesqaure” is a video library with features films from 13 South-East European countries and the price for watching a feature film is 1 euro. I am happy that on this VOD Platform, at any time will be available significant number of Macedonian films. VOD platforms can be characterized as a new hope and future of film promotion and presentation and already a reality in many countries in Europe and the US. This VOD platform is the only one that shows films from this part of the world. As for the movie “The Little Gangster”, we are pleased to inform you that it will be seen by thousands of children in a one week. We expect that it will break down the record for viewers of a film within a week in 22 cities in Macedonia - said Trajkovski, the project initiator and manager in “Cutaway”.
- Besides supporting of film production, the Macedonian Film Agency, supports promoting of film culture and new ways of cinema distribution, not only for Macedonian, but also for European films. From last year started to work MEDIA Desk in Macedonia and we are glad that in a very short period, Macedonian projects are recognized with its quality, and among them is “Cutaway online and offline: New digital forms of film distribution in the Balkans”. This project, as well as platform Cinesquare.net, will be promoted in the Macedonian day on the stand of South-East Europe, during Film Festival in Cannes. Thanks to this project, film fans in South-East Europe will be able at any time to see the masterpieces of the Macedonian cinematography, as well as other films from the Balkans. This “video library” will be available for viewing at any time in the 13 countries of South-Eastern Europe, and there are included the legendary Macedonian movies “Makedonska Krvava Svadba”, “Miss Stone”, “Solunskite Atentatori”, but also part of the recent Macedonian cinematography as “Tattoo”, “Punk's not dead”, “This is not an American movie”, as well as numerous of short and documentary films. For the beginning, all films have English subtitles, and some of them are also translated into languages of the countries of Southeast Europe - said Gjorgoska-Ilivska, Director of the Macedonian Film Agency.
- Support from the MEDIA sub-programme for particular project is not important only in financial terms, but also it’s a kind of recognition for its quality. The company “Cutaway”, which received the support from MEDIA on the call for On-line distribution with the project “Cutaway online and offline: New digital forms of film distribution in the Balkans” for the first time in the region will bring together three countries, where at the same time will be a screened European children film synchronized in three languages, in cinema and on VOD. Dutch children film “The Little Gangster” is one of the best Dutch family films in recent years and it is the winner of the largest film festivals for children in the world, such as “Sinekid”, “Giffoni” and “Oulu”. The film is intended for the youngest audience from 8 to 14 years and is an excellent choice on which is based this project, meeting the most of the criteria of the MEDIA sub-program, such as film education, audiences building and alternative distribution. With combining of cinema and online distribution, we expect that this film will reach a large number of viewers. Also, this brave business model is expected to generate provocative ideas and methods of promotion of the films in the Balkans and beyond - said Vladimir Stojcevski, Head of the Macedonian Office sub MEDIA Creative Europe.