Remote northern Macedonia is the setting for this stay-with-you story of love, technology, progress, and the need for music in our lives, set amongst the Turkic Yuruk communities who live in the small villages that populate the region. Their pastoral lives are dominated by ancient rules and customs, both religious and patriarchal, but the world has come knocking, and a new generation wants freedoms that don’t sit well with everybody.
Arif Jakup, with no formal acting training, plays Ahmet, who no matter what life throws at him, never loses his joy for life, wonder at the world, or capacity for love. It is the strength of his conviction in beauty that carries the film beyond a more obvious coming-of-age and culture clash story, to one which has a lesson to teach the world about the power of passion.
Ahmet’s mother has died, leaving him with his cute-as-a-button little brother Naim, played by Agush Agushev, who hasn’t spoken since the death, and his struggling and stumbling-through-grief father, played by Aksel Mehmet.
Keeping the phone charged and getting a wifi signal is as much of a priority for teenagers in this conservative community as anywhere else, but here it is a very literal connection to the modern world and all the music in it. Ahmet’s love for music is pushed to the next level when he discovers a neon-lit rave happening in the middle of nowhere, and that the girl of his dreams needs a deejay.
Screened in competition at Sydney Film Festival 2025 and was runner-up GIO Audience Award Best International Feature
Winner of New Directors Competition Special Jury Mention at Seattle International Film Festival 2025
Premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2025, winning Audience Award and World Cinema Dramatic Award
Written and Directed Georgi M. Unkovski
Produced by Ivan Unkovski and
Ivana Shekutkoska
Co- Producers Michal Kráčmer, Veronika Kührová, Igor Kecman, Jelena Mitrovic, Katarina Prpic, Vladimir Anastasov, Angela Nestorovsk
Cinematography Naum Doksevski
Editor Michal Reich
Score By Alen Sinkauz and Nenad Sinkauz
Starring Arif Jakup, Agush Agushev, Dora Akan Zlatanova, Aksel Mehmet, Selpin Kerim, Atila Klince
Aya, played by Dora Akan Zlatanova, has arrived back in Macedonia from Germany. An arranged marriage is going to take place to a man who has much more on paper to offer than Ahmet, who has been already been removed from school to look after the family’s sheep, and the story takes on the quest for a first love, as much as the emancipation of the women who live inside the power structures of the Yuruk. Their brightly coloured traditional clothing is not the only thing bringing flair to the women’s lives, and how Aya and her girlfriends are going to navigate the rest of their lives is a fascinating glimpse into the tension between the past and the future, between family and freedom.
Alen Sinkauz and Nenad Sinkauz have written a thumping score, that not only helps carry the story over the verdant hills and into the a dream-state nightclub of the mind, but leans into how funny the script is.
The writer- director Georgi M. Unkovski is a Macedonian award-winning writer and director, and although his work has been featured at over 200 international film festivals, HBO and MTV, DJ Ahmet is his first feature film. He is a Sundance Alumni and his last short film Sticker has won over 50 International Awards. In the press notes he said, “At its core, the film is about the universal human need to express oneself, and how art, in this case music, can become both a refuge and a catalyst for change. My vision was to create a story that resonates with audiences by capturing the humour and drama inherent in this struggle, ultimately highlighting the power of self-discovery.”
At the Sydney Film festival Q&A he told the audience that he found most of the cast from the traditional villages in the area, and that 3000 children came through the casting process until they found the actors who played the two brothers. Unkovski said he tried to keep their authentic energy by not being too strict with rehearsals and, “Trying to create freedom for them to not feel pressure, and really enjoy the shoot.”
He explained that the edit was a difficult process to get right. ”We were in the editing room for at least six months, trying to find the real rhythm of the film. I worked with a great editor, Michal Reich, and I’m very grateful for his patience with me.”
When asked about the inspiration for the script, he said, “The whole idea for the film came from the idea of the sheep entering the techno party. It was an image that stuck with me for a very long time, and especially because it’s something that could very possibly happen in Macedonia. I kind of wrote the film backwards and forwards. When we were scouting for locations, we met an actual shepherd, and as he was talking to us and at one point he took out the newest iPhone. It was very real, and just a pleasure to write.”
