Trama

Three sisters living in an ancient city known for its toxic lead factory strive to break free from their past and get something more out of life in this darkly comic family drama. In a fractured landscape where communism and capitalism have both failed, virginal 27-year-old Afrodita lives in a modest home with her twin sister Sapho and their older sibling Slavica. Afrodita has remained mute ever since her mother walked out on the family and her father died, and Sapho is a promiscuous handball player whose many conquests fail to provide personal fulfillment. Slavica is a 35-year-old recovering drug addict whose radiant beauty can't make up for the fact that she is perceived by many as damaged goods. If only Afrodita and Sapho could find their lonely sibling a suitable mate who could also stand as the family breadwinner, perhaps they could take the tentative first steps toward escaping their noxious hometown.

"Jas sum od Titov Veles" is a story of three sisters who try to survive, though they seem ill equipped for the cruel society. The socialist revolution has failed. The social welfare is forbidden by the imposed neo-liberal transition formulas. The doors have been opened wide for the nouveau rich, the ruthless profiteers hungry for recognition who believe that everything has a price and they can afford it. The complicated historical past of the Balkans affects the lives of our main characters adding another layer of complexity to their everyday life.

"Jas sum od Titov Veles" is a sad story of dissolving and decaying family.The rat race allows no love, no compassion, brings only confusion and destruction. "Jas sum od Titov Veles" captures these absurdities with painful honesty.

They are three sisters; there is Sapho, Slavica and Afrodita.

Sapho is the youngest, she plays hand ball and goes out with men, many men, she has the disease of modern living, hopping from dick to dick, all in hope not to stay alone or at least leave this wretched place. Afrodita is her older twin, They do not look much alike, but they feel, Afrodita do not speak, she never have, and Afrodita is not stupid she just have a physical problem of not speaking.

Slavica is their older sister, she is thirty-five and has been on a methadone therapy for nine years now, she is fine, she cooks, Afrodita clean and they keep the household going.

They live in Titov Veles, it is Veles now since Tito is gone, between ourselves they still call it Titov Veles. There is a lead factory Tito build in the time of communism or social democracy as he called it, the factory is in the center of the city and is polluting us all. Kids with two heads and seven fingers are being born, middle-aged men die prematurely, women get cancer.

They live in a community that is slowly dying and I only wonder when my turn will come. Afrodita is a virgin and 27, she is not a virgin because of her inability to speak, she has had many opportunities but she has not met the right one. Anyway, Afrodita do not like anyone plus they are busy at the moment looking for a suitable husband for Slavica. By Afrodita she is the most beautiful woman in Titov Veles. Their parents are not here, well their father died as soon as their mother left.

Now it is Saphos turn to leave, she spends most of her Mondays waiting at the Greek Embassy in Skopje. She is almost there, she says.