Bitola, 21 September 2024 (MIA) - Over 450 cinematographers from the United States, Great Britain, Italy, France, Spain and Australia, together with the local audience, will attend the opening ceremony of the 45th edition of the Manaki Brothers International Cinematographers' Film Festival in Bitola on Saturday. 

The 45th anniversary of the festival will begin with a presentation of the lifetime achievement award, the Golden Camera 300, to this year's winner French cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel, as well as the Great Star of Macedonian Film award to Macedonian film and television editor Dimitar Grbevski.  

As of this year, all Golden Camera 300 winners will receive marble-and-brass stars embedded in Bitola's Shirok Sokak, with the first two stars dedicated to the Manaki brothers. Festival organizers will unveil 18 stars this year, with some of the previous winners attending to unveil their own stars at a red carpet ceremony.

ICFF Manaki Brothers director Simeon Moni Damevski told MIA in an interview that Bitola's "Walk of Fame" will start from the Manaki Cinema and continue in the direction of another Bitola landmark, the Officers' Home.

The festival, which will run through September 27, will screen 12 films as part of the official selection Camera 300 narrative features, starting with Parthenope on Saturday.

Photo: Manaki Brothers Film Festival