KINENOVA introduces laureate Emin Alper: I always look for stories worth telling

A laureate in Skopje for the first time

At today’s press conference, the KINENOVA International Film Festival introduced this year’s laureate, Turkish director Emin Alper, who also serves as president of the jury alongside Aleksandra Maksimović and Goce Cvetanovski.

“I am very happy to be here. It is a pleasure and an honour to be part of this year’s edition of KINENOVA. It is my first time in Skopje and in Macedonia, and I am excited to watch films and discuss them with my fellow jury members,” Alper said.

For his film Salvation, Emin Alper won the Silver Bear at the Berlinale. KINENOVA will screen his debut feature, Beyond the Hill, which also won two awards at the Berlinale — fitting for a festival dedicated to debut films.

Stories worth telling

“Audiences like my films because in them I portray ordinary people from sociological and psychological perspectives, while also wanting to underline the conflict that has become so pronounced in every society in recent years, and in the world — authoritarian regimes pose a growing danger to ordinary people, their everyday lives and their livelihoods,” Alper noted.

“The beginnings of a story come from different inspirations, but I first set up the story and then build the characters, trying to find the right character who will trigger the start — why he began to build the story and to write the screenplay for that film. I always look for stories that are worth telling, worth hearing and worth seeing. Although I earned a master’s degree in history, specifically the 19th and 20th centuries, my first love was cinema. I tried to bring what I learned into my films, and in history I mostly saw conflict, which is why it is present in all my characters, both inner and outer. I try to bring in some current issues, because I have always been interested in major conflicts. Literature has also influenced my work, especially the writer Yaşar Kemal,” Alper added.

The jury and roots in Veles

Alper is joined at the festival by his close collaborator and editor Özkan Vardar, who told those present that he has roots in Macedonia, specifically in Veles.

“Both my grandmothers and grandfathers, on my mother’s and my father’s side, come from Macedonia. My mother and my father were born in Veles, and I am very glad to be in Macedonia for the first time,” Vardar said, adding in Macedonian that all he knows how to say is “How are you”.

Aleksandra Maksimović is a documentary filmmaker and editor from Croatia who lives and works in the United Kingdom, and Goce Cvetanovski is a Macedonian film director and the author of the first Macedonian animated feature film, Jon Vardar vs. the Galaxy. Both expressed their pleasure at being part of the jury and at the chance to watch wonderful films at the festival.

Programme and support

Today’s festival programme includes a masterclass by Özkan Vardar at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts (FDU) and a screening of films from the Drama festival — “Drama Film Festival Travels to KINENOVA 2026” — in the Vardar Film hall.

KINENOVA is supported by the Film Agency of North Macedonia and the Municipality of Kisela Voda.