DJ Ahmet

A teenage shepherd seduced by electronic dance music provides an upbeat look at life as a youngster.

Filmmaker Georgi M Unkovski has produced a charming coming of age screen debut to celebrate how a young boy escapes real life through his love of dancing.

Set in the farming community of North Macedonia, it tells the tale of 15-year-old Ahmet from a remote Yörük village, who finds refuge in dance music as he tries to navigate his father’s expectations of him.

Disguised as an American teen film, DJ Ahmet turns out to be a wonderfully simple look at the life of a youngster desperate to find himself.

Surrounded by sprawling mountains and living in an isolated village, DJ Ahmet (Arif Jakup) tries to keep his stern father (Aksel Mehmet) and little brother Naim (Agush Agushev) happy.

Naim hasn’t uttered a word since the death of their mother and Ahmet deals with his grief by day dreaming out loud in class.

But their father destroys Ahmet’s hopes by pulling him out of school to take up full-time shepherding. Meanwhile Ahmet falls in love with his neighbour Aya (Dora Akan Zlatanova) whose hand in marriage is promised to someone else.

Following her one night, Ahmet stumbles into a secret rave, with his sheep not far behind and their bleating mixes in with the sounds and leaves Ahmet torn between duty and rebellion.

Modern life blends with tradition in this film which touches on all the difficulties in Ahmet’s life and cinematographer Naum Doksevski does an excellent job keeping it alive and full of energy.

It’s a touching film, full of youthful spirit and expectations following the normal rebellions of the teenage years and recognised for its upbeat soundtrack by the Sinkauz Brothers, its visual style and humorous take on cultural shifts.

The film was launched to great acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival in the world cinema dramatic competition where it won both the audience award and the special jury award for creative vision. After a successful international festival run, including screenings at the BFI London Film Festival, it’s now on screen at cinemas around the UK.

DJ Ahmet runs for 99 minutes and has a PG certificate, produced by Ivan Unkovski and Ivana Shekutkoska through the North Macedonian production company Cinema Futura.

Author Bio:

Rebecca Hay is an experienced travel writer and member of The British Guild of Travel Writers. Follow her adventures with her family on Twitter and Instagram @emojiadventurer and on Facebook via EmojiAdventurers2.

Image courtesy of Cinema Futura