The Third Half 2012
This was the official website for the 2012 film, The Third Half, a deeply moving, life-affirming and often humorous story of love during war-time and a country's passion for soccer. Audiences on RottenTomatoes gave it an approval score of 71%.
It was the official submission of Macedonia to the Best Foreign Language Film of the 85th Academy Awards in 2013.
It was the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, Narrative Award Winner: 2014
Content is from the site's archived pages as well as other outside sources.
THE THIRD HALF International Trailer
THE THIRD HALF is a deeply moving, life-affirming and often humorous story of love during war-time and a country's passion for soccer. In 1941 Macedonia, a young Eastern Orthodox, Kosta, and a wealthy young Jewish woman, Rebecca, fall in love, despite her father's effort to keep them apart. With the war raging around their borders, the Macedonians remain cocooned in their world of patriotic pleasures, primarily concerned about getting the beleaguered Macedonia Football Club on a winning streak. Their manager hires the legendary German-Jewish coach Rudolph Spitz to turn them into champions. But when the Nazi occupation begins and they start deporting Jews, Kosta and his teammates realize that the carefree days of their youth are over. As the Nazis try to sabotage the outcome of the championship game, and Spitz's life is threatened, Kosta and his teammates rise to the challenge to protect their coach, with all of Macedonia cheering them on.
www.rottentomatoes.com
Initial release: September 27, 2012 (Macedonia (FYROM))
Director: Darko Mitrevski
Based on: World War 2 events
Languages: Macedonian language, German language, Bulgarian language, Serbian language, Judaeo-Spanish, English Language
Screenplay: Darko Mitrevski, Grgur Strujic
"The screening commemorating the 10th anniversary of Bulgaria's signing of the European Union Treaty of Accession on 25 April 2005 was more than just a celebratory event. It also served as a fundraiser for a local social/soccer club for expats in New York City. However, the most unexpected aspect of this gathering was the clear fascination of the attendees with Batman. An online store had sponsored an auction of Batman-themed t-shirts prior to the event, and the audience took it to heart. The result was a sea of Batman insignia scattered across the crowd, showing a shared enthusiasm for the Dark Knight. At the entrance, catching everyone's attention, was a gleaming replica of the Batmobile. This iconic Batman vehicle, introduced in an interesting contrast to the core event, was a fun addition and a clear hit among the crowd, adding another level of excitement to the Batman theme. What truly stood out, however, was the crowd's emotional reaction to the film. It was touching to see such a strong response, many attendees even shedding tears. This stark contrast between the Batman-filled ambiance, and the depth of emotion provoked by the film made for an unforgettable evening." Della Farnis
“The Third Half”
Official Macedonian Oscar Submission
13/09/2012
The Macedonian Association of Film Professionals, being the authorized association by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has selected the film “The Third Half” directed by Darko Mitrevski as the official Macedonian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at next year’s Academy Awards.
The Commission has been deciding between four Macedonian films running for official Macedonian submission: “The Third Half” directed by Darko Mitrevski and produced by Kino Oko, “The Woman who Brushed off Her Tears” by Teona Strugar Mitevska and in production of Sisters and Brothers Mitevski and “Skopje Remix” directed by 9 young Macedonian directors and produced by New Macedonian Video. The film “Balkan Is Not Dead”, directed by Aleksandar Popovski and produced by Kino Oko was withdrawn from consideration, due to technical reasons.
“The Third Half” is Darko Mitrevski’s third feature film, following his 1998 “Goodbye 20th Century” and 2005 “Balcancan”. Starring Sasko Kocev, Katarina Ivanovska and Rade Serbedzija, the film tells a story about football, love, and the battle against fascism. The film is scheduled to have its official premiere at the opening of this year’s International Cinematographers’ Film Festival “Manaki Brothers”, taking place September 15-21 in Bitola.
The news was also featured in the online film magazine Variety
Bulgarian FM Mladenov speaks on Macedonia’s ‘Third Half’ film controversy
Written by Clive Leviev-Sawyer on September 14, 2012 in Bulgaria, Europe | https://sofiaglobe.com
Macedonia’s controversial film Third Half, which emphasises Bulgaria’s World War 2 role in the deportation to Nazi death camps of Jews from Macedonian areas, has been nominated by Skopje’s film body for the 2013 foreign-language film Oscar award – and Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolai Mladenov has issued cautionary messages about the approaches that Macedonia should be taking to regional issues.
The Third Half (Трето Полувреме, Treto Poluvreme), directed by Darko Mitrovski and with a 113-minute running time and a reported budget of more than two million euro, is to be shown at an international film festival in Bitola on September 15.
The description of the film posted on movie website IMDB.com describes it thus: “Spitz is the German-Jewish coach of the historic Macedonia Football Team, which during World War II, under his leadership, became the champion of the fascist-controlled National Football League. A true story.”
With dialogue in Macedonian, German, Bulgarian, Serbian, Ladino and English, the movie was made with the support of the Macedonian Film Fund, Holocaust Fund of the Jews from Macedonia, The Jewish Community of Macedonia and the Czech State Fund. It was declared a film of a national interest by the Macedonian government, according to its Wikipedia entry.
For the past year, the film has caused annoyance in Bulgarian political and media circles for its portrayal of Bulgaria, an ally of the Third Reich in World War 2 but which also has been honoured by Israel because a number of politicians, civil society leaders and some Bulgarian Orthodox Church leaders prevented Jews in Bulgaria being deported to Nazi Holocaust death camps. Just one of among many aspects of the film with which Bulgarians take issue is that the Bulgarian flag of the time is incorrectly depicted as having a swastika imposed on it.
Macedonia media, commentators and some linked to the film have dismissed Bulgarian objections to the Third Half movie as bias and even as Holocaust denial.
Macedonian reports quoted director Mitrovski as telling a news conference ahead of the Bitola showing that the film was “not directed against anyone” but was about love, heroism and the common man.
The news conference was attended by Macedonian culture minister Elizabeta Kanchevska-Milevska and festival director Labina Mitevska.
A video from the Shoah – Steven Spielberg Foundation was shown at the news conference, featuring Holocaust survivor Neta Cohen – portrayed in the film at the centre of its love story – describing how Bulgarians had seized Jewish people and property in Macedonia.
“They (Bulgarians) did bad things. Innocent people got hurt. They took my brothers. The oldest was 28, and the youngest 20. My sister was about 15 years old. My father, 60,” Cohen was reported as saying in the video.
Bulgarian Foreign Minister Mladenov, asked about the film on September 14 on public broadcaster Bulgarian National Television’s Svetut e Sedem programme, said that when a country wanted to join the European Union, it should be cautious about actions that could lead to confrontations with its neighbours. (Macedonia submitted an EU membership application in 2005; as of March 2012, the EU was to begin conducting a high-level accession dialogue with Skopje.)
A country aspiring to EU membership should take a constructive approach in neighbourly relations, as Bulgaria had done, Mladenov said.
He said that there were a number of unresolved issues involving various European countries and if all of these were opened, this would destroy the EU faster than the financial crisis.
Mladenov said that Bulgaria was a country “big and serious enough that one film will not demolish it”.
He said that a few days earlier, in Jerusalem, Bulgaria and Israel had agreed on commemorations in 2013 of the anniversary of the saving of Jews by Bulgaria, and that the commemorations would remember all who died in those years.
Again, he cautioned against using history for political ends.
Earlier in the same interview, Mladenov said that there were good people-to-people relations between Bulgarians and Macedonians, as there were in trade and tourism, but “the problems arise when some people try to come up with ideological constructions out of the past”.
The Third Half saga is one of a series of what Bulgaria has seen as provocations by Macedonia on historical issues. In a recent letter, Bulgarian President Rossen Plevneliev welcomed a stated call by his Macedonian counterpart Gjorge Ivanov to leave history to historians and to be orientated towards a European future – with Plevneliev adding that he hoped to see Macedonia show this in deeds and not just words.
Reviews
Tears and Standing Ovations for “The Third Half”
Maja NedelkovskaBitola BIRN September 17, 2012 |/balkaninsight.com/
The premiere of the Macedonian movie “The Third Half”, which has already sparked controversy in neighbouring Bulgaria, has received a standing ovation at the Bitola film festival.
The movie, set against the background of the WW2 deportation and destruction of Macedonia’s Jewish community, had its premiere at the opening of the 33rdManaki Brothers film festival on Saturday.
Some members of the audience were moved to tears by the film.
“The Third Half’, directed by Darko Mitrevski, which depicts a love story between Kosta and Rebeka, is based on the true story of a young girl from a rich Jewish family who fell in love with a poor Macedonian football player. She managed to evade deportation to Treblinka after eloping with her lover.
The film also tells the true story of a Macedonian football team, coached by a Jew, Iljesh Spic, which competed in Bulgaria’s national football league during the occupation.
The team from an unrecognized nation, led by a Jew whose kinsmen were being murdered by the Nazis, became champions.
At the premiere, Mitrevski dedicated the movie to Neta Cohen, the woman whose life story had inspired his work.
“I saw a lot of black and white photos of her deceased family. Among them, there was only one colour photo, with her living sons, daughters, grandchildren. She said that they were the fruits of her forbidden love. Once I heard her story… I knew that I had the last scene of my next feature film,” said Mitrevski.
The premiere saw unprecedented interest from Bulgarian journalists who flocked to Bitola after the movie provoked controversy there, even before its release.
In November, three Bulgarian MEPs, Evgeni Kirilov, Andrey Kovatchev and Stanimir Ilchev, accused the movie of disinformation and of defaming their country by indicating that Bulgarians had assisted with the deportation of Macedonian Jews to Nazi death camps.
“We are again witnessing one of many cases of Macedonia promoting its identity through false history,” the MEPs then wrote to the European Commissioner, Stefan Fuele.
Bulgaria refused to deport its own Jews to its then Axis ally, Nazi Germany. But it did deport the Jews from Macedonia, which it occupied after the fall of Yugoslavia in 1941.
On the night of March 10, 1943, police loyal to the royal government in Sofia apprehended almost the entire Jewish population of Macedonia. The victims were put onto cattle wagons and transported by train to the Treblinka concentration camp in Poland where almost all of them were exterminated.
Only 2 per cent of Macedonia’s 7,200 Jews escaped slaughter by going into hiding or joining the Partisan resistance.
Some historians suggest that the Macedonian Jews might have been sacrificed as compensation for Bulgaria’s failure to hand over its own Jews to Nazi Germany.
The Manaki Brothers festival continues until September 21, when another Macedonian movie premiere, “The Balkan is Not Dead” by Aleksandar Popovski, will close the festival.
Until then, audiences can see up to 70 movies in nine different competitions, including 28 Macedonian films. The festival also features more than 200 guest appearances, and a series of workshops and conferences.
THE THIRD HALF (TRETO POLUVREME)
https://www.jiff.com.au/
MACEDONIA / 2012
Macedonia’s entry for the Academy Awards Foreign Language Oscar, The Third Half is a moving tale that will appeal to both cineastes and fans of World Soccer.
Celebrated as the best film to come out of Macedonia and inspired by a true story, The Third Half meshes love, soccer and the persecution of the Macedonian Jewish community in this thrilling film bursting with Balkan spirit. Just as the pathetic Macedonian football team starts to make some progress with their new coach Rudolph Spitz (Richard Sammel), Nazi tanks roll through the city and Spitz is kicked off the team. Meanwhile, the beautiful daughter of a Jewish banker Rebecca (Katarina Ivanovska) falls in love with the star player and the team is forced to choose what it will fight for.
113 MINS / MACEDONIAN, GERMAN, BULGARIAN, LADINO, ENGLISH (ENGLISH SUBTITLES)
DIRECTOR — Darko Mitrevski
RottenTomatoes Audience Reviews
** ½ ???????? ?
January 1, 2014
Film with great potential, just the execution is not quite right. Although very ambitious (maybe too ambitious for the director and the leading actors) , never reaches any point of greatness. It's Holocaust themed movie , but the romance is what makes the story. Unfortunately the film fails to fulfill them both. Romance is cheesy never epic and the holocaust marginal. What bothered me the most, perhaps, is the plethora of languages spoken and the under achievements of the leading actors.
+++++
Mike S July 24, 2013
Excellent Holocaust related film about Jews of Macedonia, an inspiring football (soccer) coach and his overachieving team, plus a love affair & political intrigue. Well-acted and directed, and very engrossing. Highly recommended for the Festival circuits if it does not make its way into general distribution.
+++++
½* Rajiv M. Rajiv M
April 5, 2013
very slow movie, unwatchable in this day and age
+++++
*****Pho D. Pho D
March 4, 2013
A remarkable performance from the actors, bringing you to the time of the Nazi German/Fascist Bulgarian occupation.
IMDb Reviews
IMDb Factual errors
The film contains several factual mistakes that are very easy to be checked, because there is a video and photo archive of this football match between FC Makedonia and FC Levski in the archive ot SS.Cyril and Metodius National Library in Sofia. For example, nowhere in the meeting is not waving Nazi flags, like shown in the movie. The film argues that the players of FC Levski raise their hands in a Nazi salute "Heil Hitler", but as the link below shows that hands of both of the teams are raised and it is not a Nazi salute, but simply hands raised in the air. At the second photo from the link below you may see that actually as a Nazi salute "Heil Hitler" have raised the players of FC Macedonia. One more factual mistake is that at the movie is shown that the Bulgarian administrative and military authorities are deporting the Jews from Skopie and two more cities to the gas chambers of Treblinka. The truth is that the Bulgarian police at this area is under german control. Factual mistake is that on the carriages used for the Jews deportation is written "BDZ" (Bulgarian State Railways), but at the photos from the same period is visible that this is not true, because in fact the carriages arrives from Germany and they belong to the Third Reich.
IMDb Users Review
Entertaining, if the political side is a bit crude
7/10 stars 19 July 2014 | by Andy-296
In Macedonia, during World War II, a football team hires a German coach to improve its results. But the war will son caught up with the team, as the German-allied Bulgarian army invades the country. Sasko Kocev stars as Kosta, a handsome if a somewhat rakish footballer. Kosta pursues the beautiful Rebecca (Katarina Ivanovska), the daughter of Don Raphael (veteran actor Rade Serbezidja), a wealthy Jewish businessman. Richard Sammer is Spitz, the German trainer, who is persecuted by the authorities after they find he is a Jew (this is based on a real character, though many details were changed). The movie also covers a lot of political issues, like the Bulgarian-Macedonian rivalry, which I can't comment on deeply since it is a territory I'm quite unfamiliar with. This political aspect can be quite crude. For instance, all the Bulgarian characters look bad here, starting with the nasty General Gorvanov (a great performance of Emil Ruben). Overall, this is an entertaining film. Note: the former Yugoslavia seems to have cornered the market on period football films: some years ago, there was a fine Serbian film called Bog Te Video, about the Yugoslavian team that played in the 1930's World Cup.
+++++
An opportunity to score goals on the long third half
8/10 stars Reno-Rangan21 November 2013
The movie was inspired by the true story of a football team with the backdrop of second world war. It is all about the football revolution in a small country in the south-eastern Europe. The movie kinda reminds me 'Montevideo' which is also tells about the country's dream to participate in the first edition of the football world cup. More or less both the stories sets in the same era with a decade or two difference.
The opening was very similar to 'Madrasapattinam' where a woman in her 70s wants to go back to her native place in Europe. So she leave the States with her granddaughter and soon after arrived there she begins to re-encounters her flashbacks. She was the daughter of a wealthy man in the town who fall in love with a football player which is against her fathers will. But in the other side, inexperience football team is yet to register their first victory. So they hire a German coach to make the best club in the country. The team begins to show some positive sign but yet to face another difficulty when the country is occupied by the Nazi Germans. With all these troubles the team must rise from the ground.
No offence but frankly to say I never heard Macedonia before. From this beautiful movie I came to know it and hope same that it would reach every corners of the world. When it come to the movie, it tells the tale from certain aspect especially from that old woman and what she witnessed. There's other cruel side too where Hitler's Administration kills many Jews which is not in the movie. The filmmakers avoided the cruelty portions of the story and portrayed only from young love and the team's perspective. Still there are couple killing scenes and a half nude in it.
The end speech was very good. When I thought the end was very usual, the powerful lines spoken by the lead female made movie further stronger to end. Yeah that one was indeed very good and it explains the meaning of title very well.
8/10
+++++
Outstanding work of art. Amazing cinematography
10/10 stars katalinamk 10 March 2013
This movie is one of the best outstanding Macedonian movies ever made in the history of Macedonian cinematography.
The Third Half is filled with lots of painful truths assembled in a beautiful love story continued with soccer events that wake up the spirit inside you. It's amazing that this movie so easily creates the cheering effect and you are cheering all the way.
While watching the movie i smiled so good, I was laughing out loud at certain extremely funny moments and then I cried. After crying I laughed again, I laughed so sweet I loved the taste of those tears. In the end I cried smiling. This movie creates such strong emotional waves that you are not able to resist the urge to go along with them.
+++++
Out of words for it...
10/10 stars tijana_joe1 December 2012
I am speechless.Really proud to be Macedonian.No matter what they say this is a great film.I finally believe that with this movie everybody will see the real face of Macedonians and how much pain they have gone through.It is a wonderful film made with so much heart and depth...
I love Macedonia
Every word of the scenery is true and the music was just breathtaking.It's not just about a movie or politics...it's about people who have been through a lot and are still fighting and standing united,hand by hand,strong like ever....
More sokol pie voda na Vardarot Jane,Jane le belo grlo Jane,Jane le krotko jagne...
More Background On TheThirdHalf-Movie.com
TheThirdHalf-Movie.com is a website dedicated to The Third Half (Treto Poluvreme), a 2012 Macedonian historical drama that combines a wartime love story, the struggles of a football team, and the persecution of Macedonia's Jewish community during World War II. Directed by Darko Mitrevski, the film attracted international attention for its ambitious production, emotional storytelling, historical subject matter, and controversial portrayal of Bulgaria's role in the Holocaust.
Originally associated with the film's official online presence, TheThirdHalf-Movie.com serves as a resource for discovering the movie's background, storyline, cast, production history, international recognition, and critical reception. Its subject extends beyond entertainment into the history of southeastern Europe, Jewish survival, national identity, and the relationship between sports and political conflict.
Released in Macedonia on September 27, 2012, The Third Half became the country's official submission for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 85th Academy Awards. Although it did not receive an Oscar nomination, the film subsequently reached international audiences through festivals, Jewish cultural organizations, and specialized screenings. Its recognition included a Best Movie award at the 2014 Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, helping establish its reputation beyond its country of origin.
The film's continuing relevance comes from its unusual combination of subjects. It presents football as a symbol of national pride and collective ambition while examining how war, religious persecution, and authoritarianism transform ordinary lives. The website preserves access to this story and provides a starting point for viewers interested in both the film and the historical events that inspired it.
The Website's Purpose, History, and Online Identity
TheThirdHalf-Movie.com was established as an online destination associated with the promotion of The Third Half. A dedicated movie website was particularly valuable for an international production released in 2012, when independent and foreign-language films frequently relied on their own websites to distribute trailers, press information, festival announcements, and promotional materials.
The domain's name directly identifies the film, making it recognizable to audiences searching for information about its release, director, cast, and historical background. Unlike a general movie database, a dedicated website can concentrate on the identity and significance of a single production, presenting material that might otherwise be scattered across entertainment publications, festival programs, and news archives.
The website's publicly accessible content identifies it as a former official site and includes an international trailer, a plot description, release information, coverage of the film's Academy Awards submission, reporting about the historical controversy, and selections of audience commentary. The material functions partly as a promotional archive and partly as a retrospective collection of information about the film's reception.
Its navigation is relatively straightforward, emphasizing the film's identity and supporting information rather than a large collection of interactive services. Visitors can explore the story, encounter press coverage, and learn how audiences and critics responded. The site does not function as a commercial streaming platform, cinema ticketing service, or merchandise store.
The distinction between the website's historical role and its present-day operation is important. Although it identifies itself as the film's former official website, publicly available information does not conclusively establish the domain's current registrant, administrator, or relationship with the original production company. The film itself was produced by Kino Oko, but that production credit should not be confused with independently verified ownership of the present domain.
As a specialized film website, TheThirdHalf-Movie.com also occupies a particular place in online cultural preservation. Dedicated promotional websites frequently disappear after theatrical releases, leaving movie databases and archived news articles as the principal sources of information. Maintaining material about a film more than a decade after its premiere helps preserve the context in which the production was created, promoted, and discussed.
The Film's Story: Romance, Football, and the Outbreak of War
The Third Half is set primarily in Skopje during World War II, beginning in a period when everyday life remains focused on familiar concerns despite growing instability throughout Europe. The central narrative follows Kosta, a talented but undisciplined Macedonian football player, and Rebecca, the daughter of a wealthy Jewish businessman. Their relationship develops across religious and social divisions, bringing them into conflict with Rebecca's father, Don Rafael, who disapproves of the romance.
Alongside this relationship, the film follows Macedonia Football Club, a struggling team determined to improve its standing. Its manager, Dimitrija, recruits Rudolph Spitz, an experienced German-Jewish football coach, to transform the players into serious competitors. Spitz introduces discipline, training, and a stronger sense of teamwork, gradually changing the club's fortunes.
The football story initially provides humor and optimism. Players who have struggled to compete begin to believe that they can achieve something significant, while the team's progress becomes a source of pride for its supporters. The romance between Kosta and Rebecca develops within this atmosphere of youthful ambition, personal conflict, and sporting excitement.
The situation changes dramatically when Axis forces occupy the region. Bulgaria, allied with Nazi Germany, administers much of what is now North Macedonia. Anti-Jewish persecution intensifies, and the lives of Rebecca, her family, and Spitz become increasingly dangerous. Football, previously a relatively carefree pursuit, becomes entangled with political authority and discrimination.
Kosta must confront responsibilities far greater than winning matches. His relationship with Rebecca forces him to recognize the immediate consequences of persecution, while the football players face difficult decisions about loyalty, courage, and protecting their coach.
The film's title reflects its interest in what happens beyond the ordinary boundaries of a sporting contest. The first and second halves of a football match may determine the official result, but the metaphorical third half concerns the choices people make afterward, the lives they preserve, and the moral consequences that outlast the game.
The narrative blends fictionalized incidents with historical experiences. Its romantic storyline draws inspiration from a real Holocaust survivor, while its football narrative incorporates the history of a Macedonian club and a Jewish coach. The result is a historical drama rather than a documentary reconstruction, a distinction that becomes particularly important when examining the controversy surrounding the film.
The Real Historical Events Behind The Third Half
The historical foundations of The Third Half are central to its significance. During World War II, the territory of present-day North Macedonia was part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia before Axis forces invaded Yugoslavia in April 1941. Bulgaria subsequently administered much of the region under the Axis occupation system.
For Macedonia's Jewish population, this period brought devastating consequences. In March 1943, Bulgarian authorities rounded up thousands of Jews from Skopje, Bitola, and Štip. They were detained and transported through a system of deportation that ultimately sent them to the Treblinka extermination camp in German-occupied Poland.
More than 7,000 Jews from the region were deported, and almost all were murdered. The destruction devastated Jewish communities that had existed in Macedonian cities for generations, leaving a profound gap in the country's cultural, religious, and social history.
The film's central love story was inspired by Neta Cohen, also identified in historical and film accounts as Neta Koen or Neta Mladenovska. She survived the Holocaust after becoming involved with a Macedonian Christian football player. Her experiences provided the emotional foundation for Rebecca's character and helped connect the fictional narrative to the lives of actual families.
Cohen's testimony was recorded by the USC Shoah Foundation in 1998. Her survival, the loss of members of her family, and the descendants who came after the war offered Mitrevski a way to tell a story about both destruction and continuity.
The football narrative also has a historical basis. FC Macedonia competed during the wartime period, and its association with Jewish coach Illés Spitz, whose name appears in several transliterated forms, helped inspire the film's sporting storyline. The historical record of the club, its coach, and its participation in the Bulgarian football system provides the basis for the movie's depiction of a team confronting the political realities of occupation.
These events are important to understanding why The Third Half generated such strong reactions. Its story concerns not only individual heroism but also the historical responsibility of governments, institutions, and communities during one of Europe's darkest periods.
Director Darko Mitrevski and the Film's Creative Team
Darko Mitrevski, born in Skopje in 1971, was already an established Macedonian filmmaker when he directed The Third Half. His previous feature films included Goodbye, 20th Century! (1998) and Bal-Can-Can (2005), productions that demonstrated his interest in ambitious storytelling and the social complexities of the Balkans.
The Third Half represented a significant expansion of his filmmaking ambitions. Instead of concentrating on a contemporary story, Mitrevski undertook a historical production requiring period costumes, wartime settings, football sequences, multiple languages, and a narrative involving both intimate relationships and large-scale political events.
Mitrevski co-wrote the screenplay with Grgur Strujić and also served as a producer. Robert Naskov was another central producer through the Skopje-based production company Kino Oko. The project involved international creative and technical collaborators, reflecting the practical challenges of producing a relatively expensive historical film within Macedonia's smaller film industry.
The principal cast included Saško Kocev as Kosta, Katarina Ivanovska as Rebecca, Richard Sammel as Rudolph Spitz, Rade Šerbedžija as Don Rafael, and Mitko Apostolovski as Dimitrija. Supporting performers included Emil Ruben, Toni Mihajlovski, Verica Nedeska, and other Macedonian actors.
Richard Sammel, a German actor with extensive international film experience, brought an important dimension to the portrayal of Spitz. Rade Šerbedžija, internationally recognized for his work in European and American productions, contributed experience and visibility to the film through his portrayal of Rebecca's father.
Katarina Ivanovska, who had established a career in modeling, became one of the production's most recognizable faces. Her casting also helped generate attention from audiences beyond those normally following Macedonian cinema.
The technical team included cinematographer Klaus Fuxjäger, editors Alois Fišárek and Dejan Boskovic, and composer Kiril Džajkovski. Their work supported the film's combination of historical atmosphere, dramatic action, and emotional storytelling.
Production Company, Financing, and International Collaboration
The Third Half was produced by Kino Oko, a Macedonian film production company based in Skopje. The production received support from the Macedonian Film Fund and the Czech Film Fund, with additional backing associated with the Holocaust Fund of the Jews from Macedonia and the Jewish Community of Macedonia.
Its reported production budget was approximately €2.1 million, a substantial amount for a Macedonian film at the time. The Macedonian government considered the project to be of national interest and contributed significant public funding.
The production's international structure was important because historical filmmaking requires resources that can be difficult to assemble within a relatively small domestic market. Specialized post-production work was undertaken in the Czech Republic, including services associated with I/O Post and Barrandov Sound.
Filming took place in several Macedonian locations, including Skopje, Bitola, and Ohrid. These settings provided the architectural and geographical variety needed to recreate the film's historical environment. Skopje was especially significant because it was the center of the football story and the location of major wartime events involving the Jewish population.
Bitola, historically known as Monastir, contributed another important dimension. The city once had a substantial Sephardic Jewish community that was devastated during the Holocaust. Ohrid, known for its historic buildings and lakeside setting, offered additional period atmosphere and visual appeal.
International distribution arrangements also formed part of the production's strategy. In May 2012, industry publication Screen International reported that Robbie Little's Little Film Company had acquired international sales rights. This arrangement helped position the film for festival programmers, distributors, and audiences outside Macedonia.
Premiere, Release, and Early Public Response
The Third Half premiered on September 15, 2012, at the opening of the 33rd International Cinematographers' Film Festival Manaki Brothers in Bitola. The event was an appropriate setting for a major Macedonian historical production because the festival is one of the country's important international cinema events.
The premiere generated considerable interest. Contemporary reporting described strong audience reactions, including applause and emotional responses to the film's portrayal of love, persecution, and survival. Demand was sufficiently high that an additional screening followed the premiere.
The film subsequently entered its domestic theatrical release period, with September 27, 2012, listed as its Macedonian release date. Its opening attracted attention not only because of the subject matter but also because it had already become the focus of political discussion in neighboring Bulgaria.
For domestic audiences, the film offered an opportunity to see a major historical production centered on Macedonian experiences. For international viewers, it introduced a relatively unfamiliar chapter of World War II through recognizable dramatic themes such as forbidden love, athletic competition, and resistance to injustice.
The premiere also marked an important moment for Macedonian filmmaking. Producing a historical drama with international collaborators, an ambitious budget, and a recognizable cast demonstrated the industry's ability to undertake projects intended for international circulation.
Academy Awards Submission and Festival Recognition
One of the film's most significant achievements was its selection as Macedonia's official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 85th Academy Awards, held in 2013. The selection was made by the country's authorized film industry body and announced in September 2012.
The distinction is important because being selected as a country's official submission is not equivalent to receiving an Academy Award nomination. The Third Half was submitted for consideration but was not among the final Oscar nominees.
Nevertheless, the submission increased the film's visibility and provided a valuable credential for international promotion. Academy Awards submissions often attract attention from festival organizers, journalists, distributors, and viewers interested in international cinema.
The film's festival history included presentations at Jewish film festivals and international cultural events. It appeared in programs associated with the Miami Jewish Film Festival, Palm Springs International Film Festival, and other festivals in North America and abroad.
Its most notable documented award was recognition at the 2014 Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, where it received the festival's Best Movie honor, identified in promotional material as a narrative award. This recognition was especially meaningful because Jewish film festivals provide an audience interested in Holocaust remembrance, Jewish identity, historical survival, and the representation of Jewish experiences on screen.
The film also circulated through Jewish film festivals in Denver, Detroit, Ann Arbor, and other communities. Such screenings helped it reach viewers who might not otherwise encounter a Macedonian-language historical drama.
Critical Reviews, Audience Ratings, and Popularity
The reception of The Third Half was mixed but often strongly emotional. Viewers who responded positively frequently praised the film's combination of romance, historical tragedy, and football, while others criticized its pacing, historical simplifications, and treatment of its central characters.
Rotten Tomatoes has hosted audience ratings and reviews for the film, with the website's retrospective material reporting a 71% audience approval figure. That figure should be understood as a historical snapshot rather than a permanently fixed rating, since audience scores can change as additional ratings are submitted.
Positive responses have emphasized the film's emotional impact, its performances, and its ability to introduce audiences to the experiences of Macedonian Jews during World War II. Some viewers particularly appreciated the way the football storyline made a difficult historical subject accessible without requiring the entire film to focus on persecution and violence.
More critical reactions questioned whether the film successfully balanced its romantic, sporting, and historical narratives. Some viewers considered the romance overly conventional or believed that the Holocaust deserved more substantial attention. Others objected to the portrayal of Bulgarian characters and the dramatic liberties taken with historical events.
These contrasting reactions are understandable given the film's unusually broad ambitions. A viewer approaching it primarily as a sports drama may have different expectations from someone seeking a detailed Holocaust narrative or a historically precise account of wartime Balkan politics.
In terms of popularity, The Third Half achieved meaningful recognition within Macedonian cinema and the international festival circuit. It did not become a mainstream global commercial hit, and reliable public figures establishing its worldwide box-office revenue or total audience size are limited. Its reputation is better measured through festival circulation, historical discussion, media attention, and its continued presence in film databases and cultural archives.
The Bulgarian Controversy and Competing Historical Interpretations
The controversy surrounding The Third Half was one of the defining features of its release. Bulgarian officials and commentators objected to the film's depiction of Bulgaria's wartime role, arguing that certain scenes misrepresented historical events and presented Bulgarian characters in an excessively negative manner.
The underlying history is complex but contains several well-established facts. Bulgaria was allied with Nazi Germany during World War II. Although the Bulgarian government ultimately did not deport most Jews living within Bulgaria's prewar borders, Bulgarian occupation authorities participated directly in the deportation of Jews from occupied Macedonia and Thrace.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum documents that more than 7,000 Macedonian Jews were rounded up in March 1943 and transported to Treblinka, where almost all were murdered. These events are not merely a matter of cinematic interpretation; they are supported by historical records, survivor testimony, and archival documentation.
The dispute therefore concerned both the film's specific dramatic portrayals and the broader political significance of those portrayals. Critics in Bulgaria challenged details involving uniforms, flags, football matches, and the representation of individual officials. Macedonian supporters argued that objections to the film risked minimizing or obscuring the suffering of Macedonia's Jewish population.
Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolai Mladenov publicly commented on the controversy in September 2012, cautioning against using historical disputes to damage relations between neighboring countries. The debate reflected longstanding disagreements about national identity, wartime responsibility, and historical interpretation in the Balkans.
Mitrevski defended the production, emphasizing its themes of love, heroism, and ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances. His position was that the film was intended to tell a human story rather than serve as an attack on a neighboring nation.
The controversy received international coverage, including reporting by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. This attention helped bring the film to audiences interested in the politics of historical memory, even as it complicated the reception of the production.
Press Coverage and International Media Attention
The Third Half attracted coverage from film industry publications, international news organizations, and regional media. Each type of coverage emphasized a different aspect of the production.
Screen International reported on the acquisition of international sales rights and the film's production arrangements, highlighting its commercial ambitions and international collaborators. Cineuropa examined the project within the broader context of European filmmaking, describing its combination of football, romance, religion, national identity, and Holocaust history.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty focused on the dispute surrounding the film's interpretation of Bulgarian wartime actions. Regional publications followed the political reactions, premiere, and public debate, while festival organizations concentrated on the film's emotional themes and its historical significance.
The variety of coverage illustrates why the production became more than a conventional movie release. It could be discussed as an example of national filmmaking, a Holocaust remembrance project, a sports drama, an international co-production, or a source of diplomatic controversy.
For TheThirdHalf-Movie.com, this media history provides an important part of the site's value. Bringing together the film's narrative and the reporting surrounding its release helps visitors understand why a relatively small-country production attracted attention beyond its immediate audience.
Cultural and Social Significance
The lasting cultural importance of The Third Half comes from its effort to connect several dimensions of Macedonian history within a single accessible story. Football serves as a familiar point of entry, while the romance provides an emotional connection to the historical events.
The film also draws attention to the destruction of Macedonia's Jewish communities, a subject that has not always received the same international visibility as Holocaust events in other parts of Europe. By placing Jewish characters at the center of a mainstream historical drama, the production introduces audiences to a history that might otherwise remain unfamiliar.
Its use of several languages, including Macedonian, German, Bulgarian, Serbian, and Ladino, reflects the cultural diversity of the region. Ladino, historically spoken by many Sephardic Jewish communities, is especially significant because its presence evokes a linguistic and cultural heritage severely diminished by the Holocaust.
The film's emphasis on football also has broader meaning. Sports can create a sense of belonging across social differences, but athletic institutions do not exist independently of political events. In the film, a football team becomes a setting in which questions of loyalty, prejudice, national pride, and moral responsibility must be confronted.
The production is additionally important as an example of how cinema contributes to public memory. Historical films can introduce viewers to events they know little about, but they also shape perceptions through characterization, dramatic structure, and selective emphasis. The Third Half demonstrates both the possibilities and limitations of that process.
The Website's Audience and Continuing Relevance
TheThirdHalf-Movie.com is particularly relevant to film enthusiasts, historians, students, football fans, and viewers interested in Jewish culture and Holocaust remembrance. Its content appeals to people researching the film itself as well as those exploring the broader history of wartime Macedonia.
For cinema enthusiasts, the site offers background on a notable Macedonian production and its international reception. For students of European history, it provides an introduction to events that can be investigated further through historical institutions and archival sources. Jewish cultural organizations may find the film relevant to discussions of survival, identity, interfaith relationships, and historical remembrance.
Football audiences may be interested in the historical club, its Jewish coach, and the ways sporting competition continued under occupation. Viewers interested in Balkan politics can examine the controversy as an example of how historical narratives remain politically sensitive generations after the events they depict.
The website also has value as a specialized archival resource. Film promotion increasingly takes place through social media and streaming platforms, where information can be difficult to recover after a release campaign ends. A dedicated domain provides a more focused record of a production's identity and the discussion it generated.
No reliable public analytics were found establishing the website's present traffic, visitor demographics, or ranking among film-related websites. Its importance should therefore be understood in terms of its specialized content and historical relevance rather than unsupported claims about online popularity.
Why The Third Half Remains Worth Discovering
More than a decade after its release, The Third Half remains a distinctive entry in Macedonian cinema. Its combination of football, romance, national identity, and Holocaust history gives it a character that differs from conventional sports films and historical dramas.
The production's significance does not depend entirely on its artistic reception or commercial performance. It brought international attention to the experiences of Macedonia's Jewish population, demonstrated the ambitions of Macedonian filmmakers, and stimulated debate about the relationship between historical facts and cinematic interpretation.
TheThirdHalf-Movie.com preserves a useful introduction to these subjects. Visitors can discover the film's story, learn about its production, explore its festival recognition, and understand why its release generated such intense discussion.
For anyone interested in southeastern European cinema, wartime history, Jewish cultural memory, or the social significance of football, the website provides a focused starting point. The film itself offers an emotionally driven interpretation of a difficult period, while the surrounding historical record encourages a deeper examination of the real people and events behind the drama.
Ultimately, the legacy of The Third Half lies in its central idea that the meaning of a contest, and perhaps of a lifetime, extends beyond the final score. The choices made under pressure, the people who are protected, and the memories preserved for future generations matter long after the game has ended.
