‘DJ Ahmet’ Debuts Trailer, Director Speaks Returning to Sundance and Finding His Leads Among Thousands of Children From Macedonian Villages (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor Living in a remote Yuruk village in North Macedonia, the titular 15-year-old boy in “DJ Ahmet” desperately wants two things he cannot have: to share music with others and to be with the girl next door, who is already promised to someone else.

Director Georgi M. Unkovski knows a thing or two about wanting something that feels impossible, having gone through multiple funding and production frustrations in the five-year journey to make his feature debut, premiering as part of Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition.

Speaking exclusively with Variety ahead of the festival, the Macedonian writer-director, whose work has been featured in over 200 international festivals, HBO and MTV, says he first had the idea for the feature around the time he screened his short film “Sticker” at Sundance in 2020. “We got the first round of funding at the end of the year but only finished funding the film three months ago, so it was a long process to get it all together. “There were always certain things that felt important for me to try to explore,” he continues of the seed for “DJ Ahmet.” “This feeling of not belonging, or being a 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 region.” By this region, Unkovski means the small Yuruk village where he shot the film.