I Am From Titov Veles

(Teona Strugar Mitevska, Macedonia, 2007)

Wednesday, November. 4, at 4 p.m., and Thursday, November. 5, at 12 p.m., Drenan Auditorium, third floor, Parker Hall.

Sapho is the youngest; she plays handball and goes out with men – many men. She has the disease of modern living, hopping from dick to dick, all in hope not to stay alone or at least leave this wretched place. I, Afrodita, am her older twin. We do not look much alike, but we feel. I do not speak, I never have, and I am not stupid. I just have a physical problem of not speaking. Slavica is our older sister; she is 35 and has been on a methadone therapy for nine years now. She is fine. She cooks, I clean, and we keep the household going. We live in Titov Veles, it is Veles now, since Tito is gone, but between ourselves we still call it Titov Veles. There is a lead factory Tito built in the time of communism – or “social democracy” as he called it. The factory is in the center of the city and is polluting us all. Kids with two heads and seven fingers are being born, middle-aged men die prematurely, women get cancer. I live in a community that is slowly dying, and I only wonder when my turn will come. I am a virgin and 27. I am not a virgin because of my inability to speak; I have had many opportunities, but I have not met the right one. Anyway, I do not like anyone, plus we are busy at the moment looking for a suitable husband for Slavica. By me she is the most beautiful woman in Titov Veles. Our parents are not here – our father died as soon as our mother left. Now it is Sapho’s turn to leave, she spends most of her Mondays waiting at the Greek Embassy in Skopje. She is almost there, she says.

Teona Strugar Mitevska was born in Skopje, Macedonia in 1974. As a child she acted in television, commercials, theater and radio dramas; she later trained as a painter and obtained her BA in Graphic Design. In 1998, she enrolled in the MFA film program at New York University’s Tisch School of Arts. Her first feature film, How I Killed A Saint, screened successfully at festivals around the world. I Am From Titov Veles is her second feature film.