Teona Strugar Mitevska

Born in Macedonia, Teona Strugar Mitevska began her career as a child actor, trained as a painter and graphic designer and studied film at NYU-Tisch School of Arts. She directed her first short film, Veta, in 2001 and has been making films ever since: How I Killed a Saint (2004), I Am from Titov Veles (2007), The Woman Who Brushed Off Her Tears (2012), Teresa and I (2013), When the Day Had No Name (2017) and most recently, God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunya, which premiered in competition at the 2019 Berlin Film Festival, where it was awarded the Ecumenical Prize, as well at the German Guild Film Prize. So far the film has received more than 30 awards internationally, most notably the 2019 LUX Prize by the European Parliament and was sold for theatrical release to over 40 territories world-wide. In 2018, Teona Strugar Mitevska was awarded “L’ordre des Arts et des Lettres” by the French Ministry of Culture. Her most recent film The Happiest Man In The World premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September. She is currently preparing her first English language film, entitled Mother. Teona Strugar Mitevska lives between Skopje and Brussels with her son Kaeliok.