Elena Čemerka’s documentary ‘Ruins’ to premiere at Makedox festival

The documentary film ‘Ruins’, directed and written by Elena Čemerka, will have its Macedonian premiere at the 17th Makedox festival on August 24 in Kuršumli An. Following its world premiere at the Shanghai International Film Festival, the film explores themes of personal and collective memory, loss, and heritage.

The documentary centers on the revitalization of the Monument to Freedom in Kočani, a modernist monument created by the late artist Gligor Čemerski and architect Radovan Rađenović. The film stems from the long-term ‘Homeland: Monument to Freedom’ project initiated by Čemerka in 2017, which focused on both the symbolic and physical restoration of the site.

The restoration of the monument and its mosaics was completed in 2024 with support from the US Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation in cooperation with the Municipality of Kočani. ‘Ruins’ shifts the perspective from the physical restoration to the deeper questions of what remains after the process, examining the concept of ‘ruin’ as a symbol for people, ideas, and changing worldviews.