Kiril Džajkovski is the recipient of this year’s “Great Star of Macedonian Cinema” Award as a testament to his outstanding contribution to Macedonian cinema, music and culture, the president of the Macedonian Film Professionals’ Association, Igor Ivanov – Izi announced earlier today. Ivanov also emphasized that finding a laureate for this award had been no easy feat, because the criteria are very high and rightfully so, and there is no room for blunders.

– Džajkovski is a film score composer, but above all a Skopje celebrity, an opinion-maker in the cultural scene and a figure behind the cultural profile of our city and our country. He started out as a member of the “Bastion” band, then he featured in the “Kao kakao” album by “Leb i sol” taking this Skopje band an exceptional step forward, he proceeded to work on theatre plays and film scores, not to mention his DJ career and solo projects. Synonymous with the contemporary Macedonian sound, Džajkovski is one of the most significant composers and producers, famous for his fusion of traditional Balkan motifs with contemporary electronic beats. His music is an integral part of the biggest Macedonian blockbusters, including “Bal-Can-Can” and the “Third Half” by Darko Mitrevski, “Dust”, “Willow” and “Shadows” by Milcho Manchevski, “The Great Water” and “Piargi” by Ivo Trajkov (“The Great Water” earned him the award for Best Music Score at the Valencia Film Festival), as well as the “Balkan Is Not Dead” by Aleksandar Popovski, said Ivanov.

By presenting him with this award, the Macedonian film guild pays its tribute and celebrates the unique artistic vision of Kiril Džajkovski, who has enhanced Macedonia’s cinematic and cultural memory with his music.

Previous winners of the MFPA Аward are Kiril Cenevski, film director and screenwriter (2013); Milcho Manchevski, film director and screenwriter (2014); Darko Markovic, cartoonist, satirist, film director (2015); Simon Perry, film producer (2016); “Vardar Film”, production company (2017); Milica Stojanova, actress (2018); Ljupco Konstantinov, composer (2019); Stole Popov, film director and screenwriter (2020), Severdzhan Bajram, actor (2021), Gorjan Tozija, film producer (2022), Labina Mitevska, actress and producer (2023) and Dimitar Grbevski, film and television editor (2024).

Kiril Džajkovski’s award will be presented at the closing ceremony of the 46th edition of the ICFF “Manaki Brothers”. The “Great Star of Macedonian Cinema” statuette is traditionally made by the “Božinovski” Company.