Skopje, 21 November 2023 (MIA) - The Drama Theater in Skopje held a memorial service for actor Meto Jovanovski on Tuesday. The event commemorated his life's work through scenes from films and theater performances, while his friends and collaborators recounted shared memories, and his family, colleagues and students said their last goodbyes.

Actor Blagoja Chorevski recounted their student days when the two shared a room in Sofia.

 "Meto was an actor full of energy, he held an "atomic bomb" inside him. When he performed, he did it with some strange ease, when it was actually very difficult," Chorevski said.

Actor Krste Jovanovski said that Meto has left a legacy that should be cherished and shared.

"All of us put something into our lives in our lifetime, no matter how long it lasts, some more, some less, depending on the abilities. Dear friends, Meto put a lot into his life, because he knew a lot, he could, and was capable. And that is what he passed along to us to cherish, keep it in our hearts and pass it on," Jovanovski stressed. 

Montenegrin National Theatre Director, Ilija Subotić, also paid his respects by emphasizing that Meto Jovanovski was a great friend of Montenegro, the culture and the National Theatre.

"Jovanovski's theatre and film roles belong to the most special artistic traces left in the art of theatre and film, and the surviving cultural community of our complicated and turbulent modernity. Meto is a kind of symbol to that perseverance, an artist who carried the authenticity of his birthplace with equal intensity, while at the same time controlling the creative power by which artistic universality is recognized. Because of his human and professional virtues, he remains the perfect example for future theatre and film artists who through his magnificent creativity can learn that true talent is an undoubted value in any space and time," Subotić noted. 

President Stevo Pendarovski, Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski, Minister of Culture Bisera Kostadinovska Stojcheva, Minister of Defence Slavjanka Petrovska, national institutions including the Macedonian National Theatre, Theater for Children and Youth, National Albanian Theater, Bitola National Theater, Faculty of Drama Arts, as well as numerous of his theater and film colleagues and collaborators sent letters of condolences to Meto Jovanovski's family.

Macedonian theatre, film and television actor Meto Jovanovski died on Thursday at the age of 77.

Meto Jovanovski was born in 1946 in Pancharevo village, near Pehchevo. In 1971, he graduated from the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria and began working at the Drama Theatre in Skopje.

Jovanovski got his start performing at the National Theatre in Shtip, even before he began his studies. Soon after, he became known as one of the lead theatre actors in North Macedonia.

He played a lead role in several movies, including Tattoo, Before the Rain, The Great Water, To the Hilt, Survival, Happy New Year '49, The Third Half, The Longest Road.

Meto Jovanovski has received the "St. Clement of Ohrid," "October 11," and "November 13" awards for his theater, film and television roles. He is also a winner of the "Golden Clapper" award in Belgrade, a four time laureate of the "Milton Manaki" award, the "Petre Prlicko" award and the "Vojdan Chernodrinski" lifetime award, as well as a lifetime achievement award at the 2022 Balkan Panorama Film Festival in Izmir. ssh/nn/

Photo: MIA