– Set in a small Macedonian town, the film follows a daughter’s return after her mother’s suicide, as grief and memory begin to merge with the unsettling possibility of a return from the afterlife
Marija Apchevska Petrovska (third from left) and Erenik Bekiri (far left) during the shoot for Spring Cleaning (© Kino Oko Production)
Macedonian filmmaker Marija Apchevska Petrovska is presently shooting Spring Cleaning, her debut feature, principal photography for which is under way across Skopje.
The story follows Varava, a prodigal daughter who returns to her small hometown after the suicide of her mother. Her return quickly unravels into a disquieting emotional journey, as she begins to sense that her mum may have come back from the afterlife, confronting her with unresolved truths and long-buried family wounds.
The cast is led by Julia Markovska Falzon and Zoja Nikolova, both making their feature-film debuts, alongside Stefan Vujisić (God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunya) and Ana Kostovska (The Happiest Man in the World, When the Day Had No Name), plus Slovenian actress Nika Rozman (Idyll, Lenin Park).
The script is co-written by Apchevska Petrovska and Albanian writer-director Erenik Bekiri. Spring Cleaning marks the director’s transition to feature filmmaking following the international success of her short North Pole, which premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival as the first Macedonian film in the running for the Palme d’Or, and went on to screen at more than 150 festivals worldwide, winning numerous awards.
The director of photography for Spring Cleaning is Greek cinematographer Konstantinos Koukoulios (Arcadia, Moon, 66 Questions), while the Serbian creative team includes editor Dragan Von Petrović and costume designer Lidija Andrić. Production design is handled by Kiril Spaseski and sound design by Igor Popovski, while make-up and mask design are overseen by Mojca Gorogranc Petrushevska from Slovenia.
Spring Cleaning is a Macedonian-Greek-Slovenian-Serbian co-production staged by Robert Naskov for Kino Oko, with co-production partners Antigoni Rota for Athens-based Foss Productions, Boštjan Iković for Arsmedia and Miloš Ljubomirović for Belgrade-based Servia Film. The project is supported by the North Macedonia Film Agency, the Hellenic Film and Audiovisual Center, the Slovenian Film Centre and Film Center Serbia as well as Greek public broadcaster ERT SA. It has also received backing from Eurimages, along with support during development from Creative Europe – MEDIA and the SEE Cinema Network.
