Culture, cinema and digital were the main themes of the seventh edition of the Giffoni Macedonia Youth Festival which just wrapped up in Skopje, Northern Macedonia. Over six hundred young people from nine countries (Italy, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia and Azerbaijan), were the beating heart of an international jury divided into three groups along the lines of the already proven tamplate of the Giffoni Film Festival: juniors (aged from 10 to 14), cadets (from 14 to 16) and seniors (from 16 to 19). The project is supported, for Italy, also by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, by the Macedonian Minister of Culture, by the National Film Agency of Northern Macedonia and is organized by Giffoni Opportunity together with the Macedonian association Planet M .
"The seventh edition of Giffoni Macedonia was characterized by so much enthusiasm and the energy of the young participants, who viewed and analyzed the films, letting themselves be carried away by their emotions - emphasizes the director Darko Basheski - The best moment was that of the Closing ceremony, when the kids were radiant with what they had just experienced, but also sorry to have to say goodbye to their new friends known in Macedonia ”.
The big final party took place on October 18th at the Millenium cinema: the participants of the Juniors category Theater and Dance workshops performed on stage, while a photographic exhibition was set up in the hall to tell the workshop activities, starting from those of art and movie make up. The hosts of the evening were Matea and Iskra, two Giffoners welcomed in Italy in the 2018 and 2019 editions of the festival, and Marti, a former juror in Italy and now a collaborator and moderator of the discussions of the seniors group.
On this occasion the winning films were made public: "The teacher" for the juniors category; "My name is Sara" for the cadets and "Utøya: July 22" for the seniors. The public had the opportunity to see eight short films produced by the workshops, Animation, One Take videos and Film Collages, as well as a video review of all the activities that took place during the six days of the festival, including screenings in the competition, discussions, workshops, shorts, previews, masterclasses, meetings with talent. At the end of the evening the first two jurors selected to be part of the Macedonian group at the fiftieth edition of Giffoni were called on stage: Mila Naumovska, for the Seniors category and Marija Nikolaevska for the Cadets. With them also the strategy manager Jacopo Gubitosi and Marco Cesaro, head of special projects of Giffoni Opportunity, who together with the president Pietro Rinaldi and the team of the jury office represented by Marta Frasca and Francesca Pecoraro, accompanied the giffoners in Northern Macedonia. To offer their contribution to the festival, there were also three representatives of the Postal Police, who presented in Skopje the itinerant educational campaign carried out by the SIC - Related Generations, "A life by social". A truck set up with a multimedia teaching classroom, located in four strategic areas of the city, allowed operators to meet over 1300 students, parents and teachers to tackle the issues of online security and cyberbullying prevention.
The Giffoni Macedonia Youth Festival then saw the presence of three ministers of the Government of Northern Macedonia: The Minister of the Interior (and vice president of the government) Oliver Spasovski, the Minister of Education and Research Arber Ademi and the Minister of computerization Damjan Mancevski, together with the Skopje Quaestor and the Italian Ambassador in Skopje, who expressed their appreciation for the synergy between the two countries in the name of young people.
"It was a crescendo of emotions, from the first to the last day, because the Giffoni Macedonia Youth Festival is an increasingly rich project: in numbers and in content. The participation of the initiative "A life by Social" has contributed to giving an added value to the initiative: we have started new contacts and collaborations with schools, municipalities, the local police, public and private bodies that have been involved in the organization, confirming the need to weave, right from the start, an even more dense network of partners for the 2020 edition and the other activities that are being put in place during the whole year ", underlines the Program director Dea Krstevska.
"In January - the director of Giffoni Opportunity Claudio Gubitosi announced - we will return to Northern Macedonia with new exciting events. It will be the first stage of the celebrations for our fiftieth anniversary ".
