The story takes place in the summertime, during the time of the disappearing of the communism – the last great human conspiracy towards God. The film speaks about the uselessness in its functioning of the absurdity of its repression and violence, as regret the only unavoidable constants of the Yugo-faith. The action in “Tattoo” develops starting from an absurd situation when the main character Ilija, who as if he has been predestined to be in conflict with the official forces which “preserve” order, after a quarrel with his wife, leaves home with the only thing he really possesses, his empty suitcase. Trying to find some peace, he goes to the railway station where he seems suspicious to a couple of policemen who – for reasons known only for them – arrest him. In the pre-trial confinement, Ilija with some other people imprisoned the same day, is treated “a priori” as a criminal. Together, they are exposed to unbelievable drastic verbal and physical torture. Ilija, being conscience of his innocence, can’t accept being thrown into jail and expects to be acquitted, the more because his father in law is a famous lawyer. However, while the criminal charges are being brought against him, he is faced with the “fine points” of the prisoner’s life, where besides the violence of the prison guards, the prisoners are exposed to the, maybe more severe torture of other criminals. In such a situation, fighting for his own life with a criminal called Ljupcho, who later succumbs to the wounds from the prison-guard’s beating, Ilija is accused and even sentenced for murder and transferred into another prison. The relationship with Ilija’s wife takes on a new dimension, and the moments of their meetings gives him more strength of persistence for the reversal of his fortune. However, one day, expecting his wife’s arrival, Ilija is forcefully involved in the escape of another prisoner, called “The Snake”. The escape ends tragically for Ilija, either. He is shot by a guard with a bullet right through the forehead of the tattooed Jesus Christ on his chest. “Tattoo” appears to come so that it can confirm both the frailty and the creative vitality of Macedonian feature film production. Behind the paradoxality of this objective theses lie all the previous known and unknown factors. The undisputed international success, which this film enjoyed very soon, proved that with the insistence on such a production, despite its increasingly evident discontinuity, the Macedonian feature film could find itself in the most current trends in world cinematography.
1991 FF, Herceg Novi Grand-prix, “Golden Sensitive Plant” for direction / Stole Popov 1991 FF, Nish Grand-prix for male role / Meto Jovanovski 1991 FF, Vrnjacka Banja, Second Prize for screenplay / Mirko Kovac 1991 FF “Milton Manaki”, Bitola, Silver Plaque “Milton Manaki” for camera / Misho Samoilovski 1991 The actor Meto Jovanovski was anounced as the Actor Of The Year by the weekly magazine “Ekran” 1991 Nominee for the Prize “Felix 92”
Other actors: Verica Jankovic Kiril Gravchevski Dzeladin Hasani Add. credits: sreenplay colaborators — Zhivoin Pavlovic; Stole Popov mask — Snezhana Tomnenovic I assistant director — Slobodan Golubovic – Leman script — Dragica Markovic assistant production manager — Ljubica Krstevska location manager — Tome Molovski assistant unit managers — Mile Arsovski; Aleksandar Stojanovic assistant cameramen — Sreten Pakovski assistant mask — Svetlana Gutic music recordist — Svetlana Georgievska-Markovic assistant art director — Milan Mladenovic assistant costume designer — Zhaklina Krstevska assistant editor — Maja Chemcheva propmen — Negoslav Djokovic; Vangel Miovski set decorator — Slobodan Sremac dressers — Dimitar Temtov; Branko Lozanovski procurer — Dragi Trajanovski gaffer — Petar Bogoevski; Milosav Krstevski; Vlado Ruzhic key grip– Mane Naskov a man by the generator — Dragi Trifunovski collaborators — Srbo Kabadic; Boris Ukraina
