Marina Kostova is an award-winning journalist and film critic, currently serving as Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Digital Editorial Office at SAKAMDAKAŽAM.MK (www.sdk.mk).

She is the recipient of the highest state recognition for journalism and publicism in North Macedonia – the “Mito Hadzivasilev–Jasmin” Award.

Kostova previously worked as Assistant Editor-in-Chief of the daily newspaper Vest.

She is the Vice President of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) and President of its Macedonian section. She has served on juries at numerous international festivals, including Venice, Oberhausen, Sarajevo, Istanbul, Thessaloniki, and Vienna. Her reviews are also published on the official FIPRESCI website (www.fipresci.org)

Kostova is the author of the monographs “Manchevski”, “Rain: The World on ‘Before the Rain’ by Milcho Manchevski”, and the collection “Language Is a Strange Beast.” The monograph Manchevski received the award for Best Original Publication at the Skopje Book Fair 2015. Both monographs, as Macedonian cultural artifacts, are available in more than 120 national and university libraries worldwide.

She is also a contributing author to several anthologies of Macedonian short fiction, including “Džunđule in the Land of Poppies,” “Skopje Stories,” and “Skopje Almanac – A Day Off.”

Kostova was part of the authorial team behind the first Macedonian Dictionary of Media Literacy (https://recnik.medium.edu.mk/)

She has served as co-selector of the Manaki Brothers International Cinematographers’ Film Festival and adviser to the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. She has conducted research for several films, including Milcho Manchevski’s “Dust” and “Mothers,” Ivo Trajkov’s “The Great Water,” and Aneta Leshnikovska’s “Does It Hurt?”

Kostova is also the co-author of the multimedia CD-ROM “Macedonia in the Archives of The New York Times.”