Ahmet, a 15-year-old boy from a remote Yörük village in North Macedonia, finds refuge in music while navigating his father’s expectations, a conservative community, and his first experience with love - a girl already promised to someone else.
Winner: Sundance 2025 World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award and the Special Jury Award for Creative Vision
The Garden Cinema View:
Tradition vs modernity, independence vs family, coming of age - these are familiar tropes in cinema. What sets Georgi M. Unkovski's third film apart is its rarely depicted setting of a Yuruk village in Northern Macedonia, a superbly mixed music score, striking visuals, and above all, an encompassing sense of fun and humour.
Sheep dyed in bright fuchsia, rave parties in the proximity of rural communities - the film creates a small universe of stark contradictions. The deeply patriarchal patterns of this isolated setting are oppressive for the village youths who are more concerned with what to next watch on their phones, yet Unkovski addresses these tensions with respect for the locals, and an empathetic eye.
DJ Ahmet balances social observation with real warmth, finding both absurdity and humanity at the intersection of old and new worlds.
