The Third Forum of Creative Cities for Film from the UNESCO Network, “Creative Industries – Bridge to the Future between Culture and Creative Economy /Covid-19 Challenges”, took place on 27th and 28th October, 2021 in the Municipality of Bitola and in the Center for Culture-Bitola.

The forum included senior representatives of the creative cities for film from the UNESCO network – Sydney, Galway, Qingdao, Busan, Terrace, Bradford, Potsdam, Sarajevo, Sofia, as well as representatives of relevant domestic institutions, NGOs and the business sector, working in the creative and film industries.

“The forum is of exceptional importance for the city of Bitola, as an equal member of the creative cities for film from the UNESCO network since 2015, and is one of the 18 cities that are part of this UNESCO film cluster, the only one in the country and one of the few from the region along with Sofia and Sarajevo. “The network is a key partner of UNESCO,” said the organizers.

The two-day program included several discussions and presentations and several interesting and thoughtful film screenings, informal meetings and a visit to the restored cinema of the Manaki brothers and the renovated Officers’ House. During the first day, domestic participants presented their work and projects, and several short films from the member cities of the UNESCO Film Network were shown in the small hall at the NI Cultural Center Bitola.

The second day there was a online presentations of senior representatives of creative cities for film from the UNESCO network – Terrace (Spain), Sydney (Australia), Qingdao (China), Busan (South Korea), Sarajevo (BiH) , Sofia (Bulgaria), Galway (Ireland) and other member cities of the UNESCO Film Cities Cluster. Presentations also were given by several domestic representatives from the creative industries and film. Also several short films from the member cities of the UNESCO Film Network were shown in the small hall at the NI Cultural Center Bitola.

The forum is organized by the Association for Film Arts Film Center – Bitola in order to increase cooperation between cities in the field of creative industries and exchange of experiences and good practices. International Forum of Cities from the UNESCO Network: “Creative Industries – Bridge of the Future between Culture and Creative Economy”, supported by UNESCO through the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of S. Macedonia within the UNESCO Participation Program for 2020-2021.