My friend was telling me, all in amazement, that a group of teenagers at a screening of a new Macedonian film in the cinema (not that it is different from a screening of any Hollywood title), were constantly looking at each other’s phones and reacting only to the action moment or the line that can (only briefly) catch their attention. And one really cannot help but wonder: where did we go wrong? Another friend wrote to me that she had decided not to let her child go to the cinema for the screening of the latest Macedonian film, which addresses (primarily) the teenage generation (only) because of the title “Kill the children first”. She believes there are better ways to convey some messages to children. My arguments were that the title is entirely for the function of the film’s action and that at first glance it shocks only as a title, in contrast to the everyday horror we are constantly facing. And that considering the above-stated, maybe the idea (behind the title) is to (desperately) try to send its message to teenagers to at least open their eyes for a moment to everything that is happening around them when they look away for a moment from the phone screen (which can often be too late). The film that we are talking about is the first full-length film of the successful filmmaker Dimitar Orovchanec, who after numerous short projects from a wider range, finally “stings” our ears first with the title “Kill the children first” (2024), borrowed from one of the lines in the movie. This romantic action comedy focuses on the “survivals” of three friends, teenagers, who by chance (or several coincidences) become involved in unwanted relationships with various dubious characters from the criminal underworld and “overworld”. Orovchanec is also the screenwriter of the film (with the assistance of Aleksandar Rusjakov), who incorporated his own experiences, incidents, more and less real, into a story that, with a lot of (black) humour, often relies on references to a large number of well-known achievements from the film art. In the narration (among other things over the years and standing behind the camera himself), he was greatly supported by the experienced eye of our already legendary Director of Photography Vladimir Samoilovski, who skilfully lights or darkens, colours and nuances the scenes, appropriately set by  the production of Sasho Blazhevski, building the contrast of the bright lively flighty naive youth world, against the harsh dark turbo-criminal reality into which young people are thrust (almost) completely uninvited. The main roles are played by three promising names of Macedonian (and not only) film. Mia Zhiro (“Sisters”) is the spoiled Matea, a ballerina in the costume of “Black Swan” who unwittingly risks her fate by the possibility of being drawn into the tragedy of slavery by the Wicked Wizard from the libretto of Tchaikovsky’s ballet. The potential it brings justifies the choice. She is accompanied by her faithful friends, Martin and George(y). The first one is interpreted by Stefan Spasov (minor roles in “Mimi” and “Vrba”), who based on his charm, while in the character of the second – captivates us with the ease of acting in all situations created by Martin Gjorgoski (who once debuted in the main role in “Amok”). With “Kill the children first”, the Macedonian cinematography gets a title that we lack in building an audience – one that will appeal to the somewhat lost, in the absence of a value system, generation. And regardless of whether one wants to see in it as an action attempt at a mac-version of “Spy Kids”, regardless of the naivety most pronounced in the resolution / shootout / denouement or some other inconsistencies, these things still will not “shake” the wider audience much who will really only remember that “youth is a bullet fired in the fog”, as is the slogan of the film. The fact that the Macedonian audience, not only the teenage audience, mostly responds to comedies in the domestic cinema field is the incredible success achieved by the director-screenwriter/actor tandem Marjan Gavrilovski – Nikola Kuzelov, who for 6 years after the warm premiere feature film, the drama “Horse Riders”, continued their independent creative film journey with the comedy “Te dua, I swear” (2023). The film is by far the most watched Macedonian film in Cineplex cinemas since their opening. In the film, three friends, two with their vices, and the third – with an accordion, after a stormy sleepless night, without much awareness of their actions, wake up in the company of a wife for one of them, bought in Albania. And – they decide to return her. The kind of “road-movie” style of narration leads the three friends in a bunch of accidents and mishaps through which they meet a variety of characters that only complement and build on the hilarious pace as soon as the film shifts “into second, then third… gear”. The skill of Nikola Kuzelov’s screenwriting achievement lies in not underestimating the audience, skilfully avoiding reducing even deliberately caricatured situations to a cheap sketch. Director Gavrilovski, on the other hand, vividly upgrades his vision, not allowing it to fall into the clutches of triviality, and he plays with prejudices in a way that garners sympathy (in fact, the award from the audience at the Tirana Festival confirmed this in the best possible way). It seems that nothing would be so good, if the casting was not a complete bullseye. The combination of the three “faithful friends” Kokan, Dvojka and Sax is excellent, as diametrically opposed characters are captured by Kuzelov, then the actor of the Comedy Theater, Atanas Atanasovski and, for the first time in a film role, the author of the music, Valentin Vidović. Angela Stojanovska, once named the best student of our Faculty of Dramatic Arts, convincingly continues her engaged upward stage line in the film word as well, here in the role of the purchased bride Fatjona. But Macedonian cinematography in recent days is not lagging behind in the treatment of other topics important for teenagers. An example is the drama “Sisters” (2021) by Dina Duma. When two friends, who seem more like sisters (hence, the English title “Sisterhood” captures the essence much better), they recklessly go beyond disrespecting the intimacy of their peers, this leads to unfathomable consequences. The screenwriting tandem of Dina Duma and Martin Ivanov completes the experiences of their previous achievements. Their combination successfully avoids the trap of possible trivial solutions and uncompromisingly builds the film’s vexing atmosphere, leaving no room for the viewer to escape from it. Duma does the transfer of what is written to the big screen by darkening the image as things take on a cheerless character… Great credit goes to the cinematographer Naum Doksevski who uncompromisingly grabbed the chance together with the director Duma to insert themselves into their premier feature film. But what seems to contribute to the huge part of the work is the excellent casting behind which once again Kirjana Nikoloska stands with her reputation, asserting herself as an absolute favourite in this significant film link of the work behind the camera in our country. So, the young girls Antonia Belazelkoska and Mia Zhiro have been chosen for the main roles. The gradation in their friendship is the key and ultimate link on which the film is successfully based. Hanis Bagashov and Marija Janchevska from the younger role-bearers make beautiful episode roles, and the lightness of Verica Nedeska’s acting and the poignant suggestiveness of Ana Levajkovic – Boshkov, expressed above all with their strong facial expression, leave an impression. The film “Stella” (2020) is also addressed to young people. The dysfunctional family and peer violence force the 11-year-old boy Nikola to run away from his parents’ home in Germany and find his peace in the picturesque regions of Galichnik, where his father comes from… The young screenwriter Eva Kamchevska, to whom this is the first full-length performance, builds the development of the adventures of the boy who takes the reckless step up with a series of subsequent not-very-convincing situations that are accompanied by predictable dialogues. But we can justify this “build-up of events” with the idea that the film is primarily intended for a child audience, so the message would be easier to convey with a straighter line of action. The director Stojan Vujicic is also “driving” in this direction in painting the film on the big screen. The brightest start in the film is the young Petar Manic in the role of the boy Nikola. He is joined by experienced actors Toni Mihajlovski (in the character of the grandfather, who almost seems copied from the mountain adventures of the favourite children’s literary character Heidi), Dejan Lilic and Serbian actress Hristina Popovic (as the boy’s quarrelling parents), as well as Simeon Moni Damevski (who plays the grandfather’s friend, the vet). The cathartic power, assumed by the title of the film, should (was supposed to) be brought by the shepherd dog Stella, but despite the undeniably cute animal character, the decisive influence of the child-pet friendship is not successfully captured (if it was desired at all) (you are much more likely to recognize the resolution in the boy’s relationship with the grandfather). And finally, a film without which this “listing” would be impossible and a film that started this new trend of addressing the audience to its (almost) contemporaries. The true confirmation of the film motto of director Vardan Tozia’s “Amok” (2016) that “No one is born violent” emerges literally from every frame of the claustrophobic grey hopeless atmosphere in the story of boys from an orphanage whose slightest possibility of emotional fulfilment is doomed from the very beginning. Tozia does not try to justify, excuse, mitigate or relativize. Everything is happening at the speed with the power of a bulldozer that ruins the fragile threads of preserved humanity in the executioner environment for this category of young people. Exactly the ones who deserve the above-mentioned slogan from the current film of Orovchanec, that “youth is a bullet fired into the fog.”