Documentary film ‘Ruins’ to screen at Cineplex in North Macedonia

The documentary film ‘Ruins’, directed and written by Elena Chemerska, will begin screenings at Cineplex on October 29. Following its world premiere at the Shanghai International Film Festival and its Macedonian premiere at ‘Makedox’, the film explores personal and collective memory through the revitalization of the Freedom Monument in Kočani.

The project follows Chemerska as she returns to North Macedonia to restore the monument created by her late father, artist Gligor Čemerski, and architect Radovan Rađenović. The film weaves archival footage and personal memories with the current state of the monument, addressing themes of loss, heritage, and vanishing social ideals.

‘Ruins’ is a co-production between North Macedonia’s Cinema Futura and Minimal Collective, alongside Restart from Croatia and POTEM from Slovenia. The film is the culmination of the long-term ‘Homeland: Freedom Monument’ project initiated in 2017, which saw the full restoration of the monument and its mosaics in 2024.