THE TALE OF SILYAN | Силјан

NORTH MACEDONIA | 2025 | COLOR | DCP | 80’ | MACEDONIAN

In 2019, Tamara Kotevska co-directed “Honeyland”, a phenomenal documentary that won international acclaim and earned two Oscar nominations (Best Documentary and Best International Feature Film) - the first time in the history of the Academy that a documentary had achieved such a feat. Six years later, Kotevska delivers another gem. Starting from a 17th-century folk tale about a father's curse that transforms his son into a stork and banishes him from the world of humans, the film unexpectedly identifies the fairy tale with the current reality of a sixty-year-old farmer who sees his work perishing and his family members becoming economic migrants. However, a little hope magically appears in his life in the form of an injured stork that the man finds and nurses back to health. The affectionate relationship he develops with the wounded bird becomes a consolation in his loneliness and proof of love as the only connecting link between all creatures in this harsh world. Spreading her directorial wings, Kotevska elevates her documentary to the realm of pure poetry. North Macedonia's official submission for the upcoming Oscars. L.K.

The screening is dedicated to Giorgos Kalogeropoulos, founder of the Mediterranean Film Institute.

DIRECTOR: Tamara Kotevska
DoP: Jean Dakar
MUSIC: Joe Wilson Davies, Hun OukPark
EDITOR: Martin Ivanov
 
TAMARA KOTEVSKA
Oscar-nominated director, born in North Macedonia in 1993. Her work “Honeyland” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, winning the Grand Jury Prize. It also went on to become the first documentary to ever receive Academy Award nominations for both Best International Feature Film and Best Documentary Feature. 
 
FILMOGRAPHY
2025 The Tale of Silyan
2023 The Walk