''Macedonian Blood Wedding'' ( mk, Македонска крвава свадба, Makedonska krvava svadba), also known as ''Bloodshed at the Wedding'', is a 1967 Yugoslav

historical drama A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romance film, romances, adventure f ...

directed by Macedonian director Trajče Popov. The

screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...

was written by

Slavko Janevski Slavko Janevski (January 11, 1920, Skopje - January 20, 2000) was a Macedonian poet, prose and script writer. He was also active as a comics artist.Tomislav Osmanli„Razvojot na stripot vo Makedonija – sedum decenii stripovno tvoreštvo“ ' ...

and is based on the 1900 play of the same name by playwright Voydan Chernodrinski. The film was released through the production company Vardar Film. It tells the story of a young Macedonian woman Cveta who is kidnapped by a Turkish bey in North Macedonia under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. It follows her resistance to converting to

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

and renouncing her national identity along with the uprising of the locals against the Ottomans.

Synopsis

The movie is based in

Ottoman Vardar Macedonia Vardar Macedonia, the area that now makes up North Macedonia, was part of the Ottoman Empire for over five hundred years, from the mid-14th century to 1912. However, the Ottomans themselves did not keep any "Macedonia" as an administrative unit. ...

and tells the story of a young woman named Cveta who is kidnapped by an Ottoman Turk in hopes of

eloping Elopement is a term that is used in reference to a marriage which is conducted in a sudden and secretive fashion, usually involving a hurried flight away from one's place of residence together with one's beloved with the intention of getting ma ...

with her. The film shows Macedonian villagers working on the fields for one of the numerous beys in the region. The bey is trying to persecute a Turkish man and wants to punish him for his progressive ideas. One of the Macedonian villagers, Spase the shepherd, helps the man escape which subsequently brings the bey to the fields where the villagers do their work. Present among the working villagers is Cveta, who stands out from the crowd with her beauty. The bey kidnaps the girl and takes her to his saray along with the other women-wives who form part of his harem. At the saray, Cveta is pressured to change her religion, renounce her family and adopt the Ottoman culture and values and eventually become one of the Bey's many submissive wives. To lure her in, the bey promises her fortune and an easy life. When the other villagers find out about the bey's forceful acts against her will, they gather in front of his house led by a priest and Spase (Cveta's love interest), and they demand that she be freed. Since their attempt is not successful, they take the case to court. Diplomatic lawyers from

Bitola Bitola (; mk, Битола ) is a city in the southwestern part of North Macedonia. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba, Nidže, and Kajmakčalan mountain ranges, north of the Medžitlija-Níki ...

get involved in the case and they rule that Cveta go back to her family. Once free again, she decides to marry Spase and they start preparing for their wedding in the fictional village Stradalovo. However, during the celebrations the bey comes together with his soldiers in an attempt to prevent the event. He faces Spase and tries to shoot him for stealing his wife. Cveta goes in front of Spase and the bullet kills her immediately. Furious and heartbroken, all the villagers rise against the Turks in a heated armed conflict with a lot of victims. Spase and the bey fight with each other, and the former kills the bey by hitting him with a rock on the head and running away to join the rebel band Komitadji to fight against the Ottoman rule in the region. The film ends with the villagers mourning and burying Cveta.

Cast

Background and production

''Macedonian Blood Wedding'' is a film adaptation of the eponymous play by Voydan Chernodrinski first published and shown in theaters in

Sofia, Bulgaria Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

in 1900. This book is considered one of the most important works in

Macedonian literature Macedonian literature ( mk, македонска книжевност) begins with the Ohrid Literary School in the First Bulgarian Empire (nowadays North Macedonia) in 886. These first written works in the dialects of the Old Church Slavonic w ...

in North Macedonia. The film takes place in the second half of the 19th century, a period during which North Macedonia was still under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and local Slavic population was subjected to Islamization and oppression. It is set in the period of the empire being in a state of anarchy, during which the Turks widely terrorized the population. As such, both the original play and the film's main topic are the unbearable life of the Macedonian population. ''Macedonian Blood Wedding'' marked Popov's directorial debut. It was released through the production company Vardar Film which also released the first-ever Macedonian film ''Frosina'' (1952). Filming took place in several cities in then

SR Macedonia The Socialist Republic of Macedonia ( mk, Социјалистичка Република Македонија, Socijalistička Republika Makedonija), or SR Macedonia, commonly referred to as Socialist Macedonia or Yugoslav Macedonia, was ...

including

Tetovo Tetovo ( mk, Тетово, , sq, Tetovë/Tetova) is a city in the northwestern part of North Macedonia, built on the foothills of Šar Mountain and divided by the Pena River. The municipality of Tetovo covers an area of at above sea level, w ...

as well as the production company's studios in the country's capital Skopje. The film was shown in Ohrid in early June 1968. The music score for the film was written by Kiril Makedonski and was performed by the Slovenian filharmonia.

Awards

Following the film's screening at the Croatian Pula Film Festival in 1968, Nikola Lazarevski received a Golden Arena for Best Production Design. The following year, the film received a Golden award with Lenin's face to honor its success in the Soviet Union.

References

External links