About DOORS - a making of

This is the excellent video shot and edited by Bojan Mitkovski and Dalibor Mitkovski at the end of the shooting of our short film DOORS. It features interviews with cast and crew, including Michele De Angelis, Viktorija Stepanovska, Steve Brooke Smith and Aleksandar Grozdanovski. IN ENGLISH!!!

Special aired on Macedonian Tera TV about DOORS and Cannes Film Festival

This was aired few days ago on Tera Tv in Macedonia. It's a 7,15 mins special made with interviews with me, actresses Viktorija Stepanovska and Maja Andonovska. Thanks to journalist Neda Maretic that gave us so much room in her cultural show. 

Screening of DOORS in Cannes getting international recognition

CONGRATULATIONS MICHELE,

SELECTION IN THE PROGRAM OF CANNES SHORT FILM CORNER IS A NEW AFFIRMATION OF YOUR FILM AND YOU AS HIS AUTHOR!

I AM ALSO PLEASED THAT I SELECTED THE FILM FOR LAST YEAR'S MANAKI BROS FEST WHERE THE FILM HAD THE REAL START SINCE IT WAS SHOT IN BITOLA. IT IS NICE THAT YOU HAVE THAT FACT ON YOUR BLOG/KINOGLAZORAMA. NEXT TIME IT WOULD BE NICE IF YOU PUT SOME MORE INFO ABOUT THE MANAKI BROTHERS FEST, AS THE FIRST AND THE OLDEST IN THE WORLD DEDICATED TO THE ARTISTS-CINEMATOGRAPHERS.

Blagoja Kunovski

(film critic, publicist, Festival's Artistic Director and Official Competition Selector)

Dear Dore, ICFF Manaki Brothers is the house of art and light. The best Cinematographers in the world meet there every year to talk with people and share their knowledge and skills. It was, as i wrote before a great honor and pleasure to be selected there. Not to mention the festival is held in the city of Bitola, Republic of Macedonia, the same city in which my short was shot. I really feel this place and this festival to be very important to me, since there I met my wife for the first time. For anyone interested this is the link to the festival site http://www.manaki.com.mk/

For a lover like me of silent film it was a dream come true to be selected in a festival named after visionary pioneers of filmmaking like the Manaki Brothers, the first to bring a movie camera in the Balkans early 1900. I publicly thank you again to show such enthusiasm and interest for my work as a director. 

DOORS to be screened at Cannes Film Festival 2013

This is a very special moment for me and all the people that worked with me, my crew, my dop, and all the friends that supported me in a long journey started 25 years go.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way"

Thank you all!

DOORS was selected to be screened at the short film corner of the Cannes Film Festival. Look forward to see you in Cannes from the 15th to 26th of May 2013

DOORS in Argentina at FCI 2013 in Buenos Aires

We are both proud and honored to announce that DOORS has been officially selected for the Festival de Cine Inusual de Buenos Aires. The short will be screened in Buenos Aires during the next edition of the festival, October 2013. We'll keep you posted on dates and location. Thanks Argentina e special thanks to Silvia G. Romero and Fabian Sancho who selected our work!

DOORS at Midnight Cult Independent Night

Check out the cool trailer, the organizers of Midnight Cult Independent Night have created to promote the event. My short film DOORS will be screened the tenth of May at the Cinema King in Catania, during the last event of the series. We'll be there for an  on stage introduction! Thanks to Ricky Caruso and Studio Kina.

La resa dei conti - The big gundown hits German market on BRD

     Switzerland based Explosive media, is a brand new company that operates on the German language territories.

Another label one could point out, if it wasn't only that this company is operated by Herr Ulrich Bruckner responsible for some of the best DVD editions surfaced in Germany in the last ten years. First as head of acquisitions at Koch Media and then at Sony, Bruckner has finally stepped in the market with his own outfit. I met Ulrich almost ten years ago at the now defunct Mifed in Milan. We immediately understood we were sharing the same passions and background and we kept in touch since then, exchanging opinions that ranged from titles to be released, to marketing decisions. Not to mention Bruckner wrote an amazing book on spaghetti western of which is a great fan and worldwide renown expert.

Cover of Bruckner's book on spaghetti westerns

Inside the digibook

 Yesterday I got from him the first two releases of Explosive, a good new edition of Faccia a Faccia (one of the best Italian western ever), and the brand new world debut in HD of another great western by Sergio Sollima: La resa dei conti aka as The big gundown. Housed in a splendid digibook case, this edition is spread over 3 discs: a BRD of the uncut version running 110 mins, with Italian, English and German track with English and German subs. A DVD of a shorter cut running 106 mins and a whole  DVD of extras. Not to mention the beautiful booklet featuring artworks from all around the world. I won't discuss here Sollima's merits as a filmmaker, he's one of the greatest underrated directors, whose work is in look for a definitively deconstruction and analysis. I met Sollima many times, during the years, as I took care of the US editions of Corri uomo corri, (Run, man run), Revolver and Città violenta (Violent city). He has always been kind to us and full of anecdotes and with an insight approach of his work that spanned from motivations and thematics to technical explanations on how he achieved some shots and sequences. Many of these infos are in the interview featured on the third disc, that includes also Tomas Milian as well. A gallery of Lee Van Cleef trailer and the OST of the film. I had seen this movie when I was a kid in a movie theater in a beaten up, worn out 35mm theatrical print. When it was released in Italy few years ago in DVD the master used was a kind of a let down, the colors washed up and the brightness boosted up, probably for a possible free TV use. Now it's finally time to throw all the previous editions in the trash can, since this BRD makes justice of the nice cinematography and present strong colors and contrast. No digital manipulation has been performed and there's almost no trace of dirts; a  cleaning of the original 2P negative has been handled with care, without the use of any DVNR. Any attempt to "improve" has been skipped in favor to keep the look as close to the original as possible, an ugly take, result of a dupe, has been kept that way without trying to alter it, avoiding so what would have been a possible disaster. The take in question looks exactly as it did at the time the movie hit theaters back in 1966. A certain softness in some long shots, could be the result of a telecine in HD instead of film scan, but it's not a big deal. This is a great piece of cinema and a must buy, not only for any western aficionados, but also for the occasional viewer. And if Leone is seated in the circle of movie gods, well, Sollima is just behind him...
The BRD is region B locked and requires to be played with a region free BRD player. I don't think this movie is going to look better than this for the time being.