LE SYMPOSIUM INTERNATIONAL LE LIVRE. LA ROUMANIE. L ...

The Social Being of the Aromâni... 251
years after its invention by the lumière brothers, having travelled expressly
to paris and london to learn about the new technology. From 1905 they
recorded scenes of Vlah women spinning, filmed by Milton Manaki and
including his 114 year old grandmother Despina. he went on to film the
entry of Sultan Mehmed V reshad into Monasatir [Bitolj] in 1911, and
King peter and prince Alexander of Serbia in 1913, and King Constantine
and prince paul of Greece in 1918.
A film by Angelopoulos called Ulysses Gaze [1996] is a slow-moving
and visually powerful portrayal of the story of the Manaki brothers,
compromised by its apparent ignorance about the Aromâni, and the
miscasting of its principals. this photograph of Milton, for which I am
greatly indebted to Maria Balamaci of Korcë, is alone enough to reveal the
film character as wholly unlike him. the Manaki brothers and their family,
in what is coyly referred to in the film as “the Greek village of Avdela”
in the pindus, and the whole community in odessa, are portrayed as if
these were exclusively Greek in language and culture, with no reference to
the Aromâni, whose distinctive social being and enterpren-eurial spirit are
central to the story. 24
Milton Manaki in Monastir [Bitolj].
Courtesy of Maria Balamaci, Korcë.
24 “A racist incident is any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim
or any other person.” Sir Willam MACpherSon: Report on the Metro politan Police
[February 1999].