"We hope that in this way we will pay respect to all those before us for what they have done for this oldest and most significant festival. The Association of Film Professionals (AFPM),  and I have agreed that it is out of the question to screen a competitive selection online because it isn’t professional to evaluate the creation of cinematographers by seeing a film on a computer", said Gena Teodosievska, the director of the festival.

However, she announced a dynamic festival web page, as well as an energetic social media activity.

The President of the Association of Film Professionals (AFPM), Igor Ivanov, says that they had to make a difficult decision after a series of meetings held online and monitoring the condition and taking into account the experiences of European and world festivals. He pointed out that the association believes that the state financial support should be primarily invested into production, that, in these times of severed budgets, it is more important to shoot than to spend it for online festivals.

The 41st edition will be marked by the presenting of the highest awards, the Golden Camera 300 for Lifetime Achievement, to the Polish-American cinematographer Janusz Kaminski and the Big Star of Macedonian Film Award to the director Stole Popov.

At the main event in Bitola, the patron of the festival, the president of the Republic of North Macedonia, Stevo Pendarovski, the mayor of Bitola, Natasha Petrovska, Teodosievska and Ivanov will address the audience in person, while the president of the European Federation of Cinematographers IMAGO, Kees van Oostrum, and the laureate of the Golden Camera 300, Janusz Kaminski will be reached via video message.

The Macedonian Television will also screen one film from each of the awards recipients. There will also be two online workshops organised with the recipients of the awards and with the members of IMAGO.