WBAI-FM Upcoming Program
Cat Radio Cafe

Mon, Jun 21, 2021 12:00 AM

"GOD EXISTS, HER NAME IS PETRUNYA"

FILMMAKER TEONA STRUGAR MITEVSKY ON “GOD EXISTS. HER NAME IS PETRUNYA”

On this show, we’ll be joined by the brilliant Macedonian filmmaker Teona Strugar Mitevsky whose new film, God Exists Her Name is Petrunya, is based on a true story, and takes place in the small Macedonian town of Stip. There, every 19th of January for the holiday of Epiphany, the “throwing of the cross” event takes place: The local priest throws a wooden cross into the river and hundreds of men dive after it. Good fortune and prosperity are guaranteed to the man who retrieves it. This time, a young woman, Petrunya, dives into the water on a whim and manages to grab the cross before the men.  All hell breaks loose as Petrunya refuses to give up the cross.

Teona Strugar Mitevska was born in 1974 to an artistic family in Skopje, Macedonia. She started as a child actor, trained as a painter and a graphic designer and later enrolled in the MFA program in film at the Tisch School of Arts at NYU. She made her debut as a short film director in 2001 with VETA which won a Special Jury Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival. Her award-winning film HOW I KILLED A SAINT was Teona’s first feature under the auspices of SISTERS AND BROTHER MITEVSKI, a company established with her brother Vuk and sister Labina. Her subsequent feature films, I AM FROM TITOV VELES, THE WOMAN WHO BRUSHED OFF HER TEARS, and WHEN THE DAY HAD NO NAME appeared at the Sarajevo Film Festival, Toronto International Film festival, Berlin International Film Festival  and the Cannes Film Festival. In 2013 Teona directed and edited TERESA AND I, a feature documentary about Mother Teresa. Her new feature GOD EXISTS, HER NAME IS PETRUNYA premiered at the 2019 Berlin International Film Festival and will open in New York at Cinema Village on June 25.
 

Hosted by Janet Coleman and David Dozer

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