Academy Award winner Vittorio Storaro will be a director of photography of a movie titled "The Master", written by Ljupco Todorovski-Upa and directed by Ivo Trajkov. Shooting is expected to begin in September after completing the whole pre-production process, including co-production partners, financing and completing the cast of international actors, including leading Macedonian artists.

Storaro, an Italian cinematographer who won Oscars for Coppola's Apocalypse Now, Beatty's Reds and Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, is in Macedonia to oversee the preparations for his new film project. The 74-year old cinematographer has been in Macedonia before when in 2005 he received a life-time achievement award at the Manaki Brothers cinematographers' festival in Bitola.

After the meeting at the Ministry of Culture, Storaro said The Master was more than a Macedonian story, it was a work with universal values.

"It is a basic concept about equality between people and religions. I will definitely try to do my job - through photography to convey this vision and concept to audiences. The movie will promote the national values of Macedonia, but it is also important that the universal concept in Macedonia had entered into force 200 years ago. The cooperation of two cultures, those of Macedonia and Italy, is also a vital step," Storaro stated.

Director Trajkov said the participation of a master of Storaro's caliber in the project would most likely yield an exceptional and quality result.

The cooperation was agreed when the screenwriter and producer Upa had invited Storaro by sending him a short e-mail. "I was courageous and crazy enough thinking that great artists are, first and foremost, ordinary people that can recognize a universal idea," he said.

The film focuses on Macedonia's national identity with a message that the world should be conquered beginning from your own courtyard, according to the producer.

Minister of Culture Elizabeta Kanceska-Milevska thanked Storaro for accepting the invitation to shoot the film.

"Vittorio Storaro is one of the most notable names in the history of cinema who has worked with famous directors. It is our great pleasure that he is our guest in Macedonia these days and I want to thank him personally for his positive reception of the film's script. I hope the movie will be a success," said Kanceska-Milevska, who received the Italian cinematographer in her cabinet together with the director and the producer.

Italy's ambassador to Macedonia Ernesto Massimino Bellelli praised the countries' cooperation in culture.

"The movie is not only co-production, but also a combination of Italy's know-how and Macedonia's film sector. Macedonia and Italy cooperate closely and I'm sure the intellectual genius of the two nations will be fruitful," he said.