Igor Ivanov (b. 1973, Skopje, Macedonia) studied philosophy and began his film career in 1993, when he began directing a series of films for television. Between the years 1995 and 2004 he made several documentaries and short films; one of them, the 15-minute-long Bugs (Bubački, 2004), won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno festival. The title Upside Down, an adaptation of the novel Navel of the World by contemporary Macedonian writer Venko Andonovski, is his feature film debut. The film clearly revives the poetic quality of the so-called "Black Wave" in Yugoslav film during the 1960s, which closely examined the afflictions of society's "other face" and the fatal dimensions of human existence.
MFF Karlovy Vary
