The Secret Ingredient
Director | Gjorce Stavreski |
Producer | Gjorce Stavreski – Fragment Film; Konstantina Stavrianou, Irini Vougioukalou – Graal S.A. |
Cast | Blagoj Veselinov, Anastas Tanovski, Aksel Mehmet, Aleksandar Mikic, Miroslav Petkovic, Dime Iliev |
Writer | Gjorce Stavreski |
Editor | Martin Ivanov |
Camera | Dejan Dimeski |
Music | Branislav Nikolov, Pece Trajkovski, Goce Jovanoski |
Original Title | ISCELITEL |
Year | 2017 |
Length | 102 min |
Country | Macedonia, Greece |
Subtitles | English |
Section | EXCITING, CURRENT CINEMA |
Screening | Friday 9 November | 21:45 hours | Filmhuis Den Haag |
‘’Tragicomic gem that could well end up charming its way into niche distribution beyond the festival circuit.’’ – The Hollywood Reporter. The screening will be followed by Q&A with the director Gjorce Stavreski. Dutch Premiere
Synopsis
Social distress, economic hardship, attempted suicide, family tragedy, illegal drugs, violent thugs and late-stage, metastasized lung cancer are the ingredients of this intriguing debut film about good intentions going really bad. The story follows Vele, an underpaid train mechanic who uses stolen marijuana to make a cake for his father to relieve his cancer pain. Suddenly, he finds himself cornered by the criminals who want their drugs back and the nosy neighbours who want the recipe for the “healing cake”. Expecting the worst, all of sudden an actual miracle occurs… This fantastic black comedy is Macedonia’s submission for the Oscars.
Festivals & Awards (selection)
LET’S CEE, 2018 – Best Debut Film | Sofia IFF, 2018 – Special Mention | Santa Barbara IFF, 2018 – Best International Feature | Aubagne IFF, 2018 – Best Feature Film | Bergamo Film Meeting, 2018 – Best Film | Thessaloniki Film Festival, 2017 – Audience Award | Tallinn Black Nights FF, 2017
Director’s bio
Gjorce Stavreski graduated from the department of film direction at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Skopje. He is an awarded film and video professional who has made films, documentaries and over 100 commercials, working as director, producer and screenwriter. His films were shown on many festivals throughout the world where he has won international awards. He was a math prodigy as a kid and is a recipient of a prestigious national award “13th of November” for math and sciences.