“A 15-year-old boy living in a remote Yuruk village in North Macedonia”dj ahmet” Desperately wants two things he can’t have: sharing music with others and being with the girl next door, who has already been promised to someone else. director Georgi M. Ankovsky He knows a thing or two about wishing for things that seem impossible, having endured numerous funding and production disappointments on the five-year journey to his feature debut, premiering as part of Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition. Has passed.
talking specifically with Diversity Ahead of the festival, the Macedonian writer-director, whose work has been screened at more than 200 international festivals, HBO and MTV, says he first got the idea for the feature when he screened his short film “Stickers” at Sundance in 2020. Screened. “We got the first round of funding at the end of the year, but the funding for the film only closed three months ago, so it was a long process to get it all together.
Regarding the seed of “DJ Ahmet”, he adds, “There were always some things that felt important to me to explore.” “This sense of belonging, or being the black sheep, always resonated with me. I think all my characters, in one way or another, are black sheep. I also thought it was a great opportunity to make a film about this area.
By this area Ankovsky means the small village of Yuruk where he shot the film. The Yuruk are semi-nomadic pastoralists who spread over a wide area in the eastern parts of North Macedonia as well as neighboring countries and whose skill in wool weaving is often seen in their distinctive colorful clothing.
“It’s very close to where I live, a few miles from my house, but I’ve never been there,” says the director of the area where he shot the film. “We researched for a year and a half, visited over 50 of these communities, and then stopped at this community that is probably the most extreme version, where people still respect these traditions very much. What you are seeing in the film, you will see the same thing when you go to the village today. This created an interesting backdrop for our story.
The village is an integral part of the story, and Unkovsky and his team worked with locals for three months to better establish themselves in the community before shooting. The film’s lead actor Arif Jakup also comes from the village. “It was important for the film to have this authenticity,” emphasizes the filmmaker. “Most of the elderly women in the film are from villages. We used a lot of extras from the village and tried to incorporate that place into our production.
The film’s casting is Unkovsky’s greatest point of pride, particularly Jakup and newcomer Agush Agushev, who plays Ahmet’s younger brother who refuses to speak, much to the displeasure of his overbearing father. “I am very happy with the casting. We had an incredible casting director, Kirijana Nikolska, and she and I did an extensive casting process. “We looked at over 3,000 children from this ethnic minority in Macedonia and narrowed it down to 60 candidates.”
“Finding Agush was like finding a diamond,” he adds. “He is really amazing and definitely one of the great highlights of the film along with Arif, who was just finishing primary school and comes from a family like Ahmet, which has been producing tobacco for generations. The whole thing was so interesting, such a wonderful experience. It was incredible to see these actors in front of the camera for the first time.
He says that, while the casting process was extensive, Unkovsky did not have much time to prepare with his young cast due to “a lot of uncertainty in terms of production”. “I always say that the film was very close to being made. It was rescheduled several times, so when we finally started shooting we only had five weeks.
“During casting, we worked a lot to find the right people for the roles, so preparation was about getting to know each other better, feeling comfortable with each other, and creating the right kind of environment to create the performances. I was in.” conclusion.
As for the current moment in Macedonian filmmaking, especially in the five years since “Honeyland” became the first nonfiction film to receive nominations in both the Documentary and International Feature categories at the Oscars, Unkovski says he thinks it Is “the first time”. There is a “very strong brotherhood among directors” in the country.
She added, “We’re really supportive of each other’s successes and we’re there for each other when things aren’t going so well.” “It’s great to have that community. Growing up, directors were always a very exclusive club and it was hard to realize that there wasn’t a sense of rivalry. Although there is still rivalry in a certain sense, the support, seeing each other and talking about films makes you feel like you are in the right place with the right people.
Returning to Sundance five years after “Stickers”, Ankovsky says he is “a little nervous” because it is the first time he will be showing the film to an audience, but also to his cast and crew. “I love the Sundance audience. They are generally very supportive, and seeing the film with the people who made it would be a particularly exciting screening.
Watch the exclusive trailer courtesy of Diversity Below:
