Country: North Macedonia • Czechia • Serbia • Croatia | Genre: Fiction, drama, music, romance | Year: 2025 | Duration: 99’ | In Macedonian and Turkish with Ukrainian SDH and English subtitles

About the film

Ahmet is a 15-year-old shepherd in a remote village in North Macedonia, where religion and tradition reign supreme. After his mother's death, his younger brother stops speaking, his authoritarian father becomes even stricter, and Ahmet is left to watch over his sheep every day. Only music saves him from such a routine. One day, he and his sheep accidentally end up at a night rave in the forest, which will divide his life into before and after.

Reasons to watch

This is a sincere and witty story about growing up, finding oneself, and music as a way to break free from imposed expectations. The film received a special jury award at the Sundance Film Festival. The cast is partially made up of non-professional actors, which added authenticity and persuasiveness to the story. And through the landscapes of the Balkan mountains, it is easy to imagine how a similar story would unfold in the setting of our native Carpathians.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Georgi M. Unkovski is a Macedonian screenwriter and director whose work has screened at over 200 international festivals and has been featured on HBO and MTV. He graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology and FAMU in Prague. His short film Sticker premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and won an award at the Brooklyn Film Festival.

festivals

• Miami Film Festival, 2025

• Seattle International Film Festival, 2025 (Special Mention)

• Sundance Film Festival, 2025 (Special Mention and Audience Award in the World Cinema Dramatic section)