Standing in the Sun (2019)
Viktor Naumovski grew up in Macedonia at the turn of the century. As the country bounced back and slowly started to westernise after the Balkan Wars, he played in the streets with his friends. These memories formed the base of his coming-of-age film ‘Standing in the Sun’, made with his family and childhood friends. Set in post-war Skopje, Naumovski follows a group of friends. He views both the boys and the transition of Macedonia from the perspective of this friendship group, who hold masculinity and national pride in high esteem. With his country as a backdrop, Naumovski shows the present by looking at the past. In doing so, he investigates Macedonia’s cultural identity as well as his own.
The work of Macedonian photographer and director Viktor Naumovski deals with origin, family ties and identity. With ‘Standing in the Sun’ he won the Steenbergen Stipendium 2019. The jury wrote: ‘It is hard to believe that a student, someone who also grew up without art in his immediate surroundings, has created a work that is so convincing and so unquestionably authentic. […] He has delivered an unforgettable project: a film which you […] watch from the very first moment with your mouth open, which is alienating and simultaneously draws you in, which shows both an inner and an outer world, which exhilarates and hypnotises you.’
single-channel video, 11:11 min.
/ Stated in Movie, courtesy of Studio Viktor Naumovski
