VASHON ISLAND FILM FESTIVAL 2025 REVIEW! It’s rare for tradition and modern life to be understood and appreciated together while connecting people through shared human values. However, writer and director Georgi M. Unkovski’s creative vision and storytelling successfully respect country, land, life, and people in his dramatic and slightly wry comedy, DJ Ahmet. With a deep respect for community and history, Unkovski weaves a sense of time and place throughout, capturing the harmony and imbalance of living through dialogue, people, music, and work. Unkovski introduces the distant world of North Macedonia and its seemingly isolated culture to the audience as a storyteller who connects with everyone without judgment, adding a touch of comedy.
Ahmet (Arif Jakup) is a 15-year-old boy from a remote Yuruk village in North Macedonia who finds refuge in DJ music while handling his father (Aksel Mehmet), a tough, simple, and traditional man. In their rural and conservative world of sheepherding and tobacco farming, Ahmet is pulled from school to help his father and care for his young brother, Naim (Agush Agushev), who has become silent after the death of their mother. However, his attention is diverted when he experiences his first love—the beautiful girl next door, Aya (Dora Akan Zlatanova), who is promised to someone else.
What seems like a traditional story from a distant land holds more contemporary value and insight than most, even in the small, remote Macedonian village of Yuruk where the film was shot. In this village, semi-nomadic shepherds, whose wool weaving skills are evident in the women’s clothing, share a common feeling of being the black sheep or, in Ahmet’s case, a pink sheep. Ahmet is a typical teenager with a good heart and a brother everyone would want. He cares deeply but is also learning values, commitment, and how to become an adult. His music is his way of connecting to life. He’s a black sheep because he understands both technology and people, and his father and brother are desperately surviving since the death of his mother. 
Ahmet shares a quiet moment with his younger brother in DJ Ahmet.
“…a 15-year-old boy from a remote Yuruk village in North Macedonia who finds refuge in DJ music…”
The town’s priest is his biggest fan and views technology as a means to connect with his community, which leads to some of the funniest moments in DJ Ahmet as he attempts to operate his sound system and computer to broadcast the village prayers. The allure of Aya for Ahmet through their shared love of DJ music, primarily accessed via cellphones with limited internet, creates a unique connection to music events in the middle of the night in the forest, where Ahmet’s loyal sheep flock follows him. The comedy of old and new is in all the right places, providing perfect relief in what appears to be a story as traditional as Shakespeare, only with speakers, DJs, and the occasional strobe headlamp.
Beautiful landscape cinematography combined with authentic locations immerses you in the world, enhanced by filming effects that blend old and new, enriching the tone and mood. Additionally, watching the story evolve from a difficult, strange duty for Ahmet to a respectful love for a young adult is not just an ending, it’s a tribute to the human experience. The acting and dialogue, which revel in an economy of words, make all the difference through understanding how Unkovski developed DJ Ahmet.
Whether it’s understanding that music helps connect people or that it truly takes a village to overcome heartbreak and loss, or that a black sheep might be leading us toward something more and better, are some of the many themes of DJ Ahmet, including the voice of elders that one can perhaps hear when roaming the forests and hills of Macedonia.
DJ Ahmet screened at the 2025 Vashon Island Film Festival.
"…a tribute to the human experience. "
