Outrage is building in the Greek community in anticipation of the 3rd Melbourne ‘Macedonian’ Film Festival, which is run by the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) organisers in Australia.

The use of this symbol on the Hoyts website is offensive to Melbourne’s Greek community, given it is part of its cultural heritage.

The Australian Macedonian Advisory Council (AMAC) has issued a formal complaint to Hoyts, the cinema complex hosting the festival, objecting to both the naming of the festival and its use of the Vergina sun as an emblem.

The Vergina Sun is registered with the World Intellectual Property Association as a state emblem for Greece, with FYROM listed as objecting.

In a letter dated 16 October, AMAC wrote to Hoyts’ managing director requesting the emblem be removed from all promotional material.

“While AMAC welcomes artistic ventures and festivals promoting the cultural diversity of Australia, it disapproves of the unauthorised use of intellectual property and misappropriation of Greek heritage to promote any event,” the letter said.

“The use of this symbol on the Hoyts website is offensive to Melbourne’s Greek community, given it is part of its cultural heritage.”

The letter adds that if the emblem is not removed from the website and other promotional material, “legal proceedings will be initiated”.

AMAC spokesperson Ian Pelekanakis told Neos Kosmos that, as of Friday, he had not yet heard back from Hoyts management.

The spokesperson said this was the third such festival, although it’s the first time it’s being held at Hoyts.

“It’s offensive to members of AMAC and the Greek community in general,” Mr Pelekanakis said.

He added that AMAC also filed a formal complaint to Greater Union, where the festival was held last year.

“But the manager was of that [FYROM] background so she wasn’t interested,” he added.

The festival is scheduled to run at Hoyts cinemas in Melbourne Central and Northland from October 21 – 24.

Neos Kosmos made numerous attempts to contact Hoyts management, but they declined to return calls before deadline.

This follows on from AMAC’s dispute with the so-called Australia-Greece Advisory Council (AGAC).

AGAC, who could not be found in a company search, objected to AMAC’s historical lecture on October 5, issuing a media release arguing that issues between Greece and its neighbours should not be “brought out in Australian territory by Greek authorities and community organizations.”

“AGAC calls on Greece to accept modern day reality and that on this planet there are people who self-identify as Macedonians who are no threat in any way shape or format to the Greek Nation,” the release said.

AMAC has since claimed that the AGAC website was created by Stojce Jakovceski, and described AGAC as “an internet façade created by Slavic-Macedonians”.

“AMAC believes that the ‘AGAC’ was conceived by members of the Slav- Macedonian community in Western Australia and was specifically created in order to spread misinformation on the occasion of Marcus Templar’s lecture at the University of Notre Dame in Fremantle on October 5,” AMAC said.

Neos Kosmos has made numerous attempts to contact AGAC, but they declined to be interviewed by phone.

We also asked if they were of Greek background to which we have not had a response.