The Third Half (Treto Poluvreme)

Director: Darko Mitrevski, Producers: Robert Naskov, Darko Mitrevski, Screenplay Darko Mitrevski, Grgur Strujic, Production Company: Kino Oko, North Macedonia, co-pro I/O Post, Barrandov Sound, Czech Republic and fx3x North Macedonia, Financed by Macedonian Film Agency, Czech Film Fund and Holocaust Fund of the Jews from Macedonia, Language: Macedonian, 1.53h/113’, 2012, Rights: World, excluding Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, regions of Kosovo and Slovenia

The Third Half is inspired by real events in Macedonian football during WW2, and the deportation of Jews from Macedonia. It is also a story of love during wartime and a country’s passion for football.

Determined to build the best football club in the country, Dimitry (Mitko Apostolovski) hires Rudolph Spitz a Jewish coach played by Richard Sammel (The Name of the Rose ,Un village français, Inglourious Basterds) to galvanize his ragtag football team. Things are looking up for the club until Nazi tanks enter the city and his star player elopes with a banker’s daughter Rebecca, played by Katarina Ivanovska the beautiful daughter of a local banker, all Dimitry’s plans must change.

The film was inspired by the true story of the FC Macedonia football team. The Jewish coach Illés Spitz and Neta Koen (current name Marija Mladenovska) a Macedonian Holocaust survivor.

Awards