The fact that half of the world population is treated like an atypical minority is inconceivable, yet a reality for women everywhere who are routinely faced with the arbitrary rules designed for the “weaker sex”. That’s why this edition of the Media Festival Skopje looks into the way women are being portrayed in media, examines the challenges they face as journalists, storytellers and filmmakers, and wholeheartedly celebrates women in front and behind the camera.

“Women in Media” was the logical choice for the fifth edition of an event whose core value is the support of female voices and perspectives. We are proud that three of our four festival’s opening nights were all-female panel discussions on different subjects, and we continue that tradition welcoming Elisa Lees Muñoz, IWMF’s Executive Director, and Sanne Terlingen, an award-winning investigative journalist and one of the initiators of Lost in Europe, for the opening discussion.

The festival began as the Investigative Film Festival Skopje, and this year it’s expanding into Media Festival Skopje allowing the natural growth of the programme. The entire edition will be held online and as allways all events are free for the public.

The theme “Women in Media” was a logical choice for the small festival jubilee, dedicated to the challenges and successes of women journalists and filmmakers. From the very beginning, four years ago, PINA focused it’s activities on the topics related to the representation of women in the media, as well as the position of women working in the media sphere, and as an organization that offers mentoring programs for training of the new generations of journalists. In the spirit of the festival theme, several important aspects of the topic and the local journalistic sphere will be analyzed, with journalists from the domestic media scene, as well as numerous foreign speakers.

Skopje Media Festival is an event organized by PINA – Platform for Investigative Journalism and Analysis, which this year is organized in partnership with the Office of Friedrich Ebert Skopje and the Netherlands embassy in Skopje and supported by UNHCR Skopje and the international organization Civil Rights Defenders.