DJ Ahmet + Q&A Sydney Film Festival

7 June 2025

In the Playhouse

Cinema

North Macedonia | 2025 | Macedonian | Comedy, Romance | U15+

Charming, funny and uplifting, this Sundance Audience Award-winner tells the story of a 15-year-old North Macedonian boy who finds refuge in dance music and in first love.

This special screening will also include a live Q&A with Director Georgi M. Unkovski.

Seamlessly straddles the line between laugh-out-loud crowd-pleaser and art-house gem with affecting gravitas.

Variety

Useful information:

Winner of the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Creative Vision

Ahmet and his brother Naim are growing up in a family scarred by grief in a remote village, conservative as it is superstitious. The boys’ stern father has no qualms forcing Ahmet to work on the family sheep farm rather than let him go to school, whilst he takes his little brother Naim, silent since his mother’s death, to a suspect healer. Into this grim reality enters the beautiful Aya, who has returned from Germany in order to enter an arranged marriage. When Ahmet discovers a secret rave he is immediately transfixed by the music, and by Aya, and sees a path to a more joyous and free life. With a mostly non-professional cast, director Georgi M. Unkovski has made an authentic, jubilant feature debut about art’s liberating power.

Presented by Sydney Opera House and Sydney Film Festival

Credits

Georgi M. Unkovski
Director

Ivan Unkovski, Ivna Shekutkoska
Producers

Georgi M. Unkovski
Writer

Naum Doksevski
Cinematographer

Michal Reich
Editor

Madman Entertainment
Australian Distributor

Cast

Arif Jakup

Agush Agushev

Dora Akan Zlatanova

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