The President of the Macedonian Film Professionals’ Association, Igor Ivanov-Izi, announced that this year’s winner of the award ‘Great Star of Macedonian Cinema’ for exceptional contribution to Macedonian cinema is the actress and producer Labina Mitevska.

Mitevska’s acting career started in 1994 when she played one of the leading roles in Milčo Mančevski’s ‘Before the Rain’, a film that won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Then she had a significant success in acting on the international stage, and later on with her remarkable career as a producer of numerous short and feature films shown at the most important world festivals. Among them were ‘God Exists, Her Name is Petrunija’, screened in the official selection of the Berlinale and the finalist for the most prestigious European award LUX Film Prize, or ‘The Happiest Man in the World’, screened at the Venice Film Festival.

Mitevska was also a longstanding director of the Manaki Brothers festival.