Sundance 2025 Review: DJ Ahmet

While coping with the death of his mother, a 15-year-old boy living in a remote village in North Macedonia has to deal with the rigid demands of his father, a much younger brother who has lost the ability to speak, and a first love promised to be married someone else.

Like his deceased mother, Ahmet and his younger sibling Naim share a great love for music while their grieving father focuses on laying down rigid rules that prioritize herding sheep over education and going to a healer to cure Naim of his speechlessness. Ahmet becomes bewitched by Aya who is visiting from Germany and is the leader of a local dance troupe that trains for the village festival.

A recurring dream of a dark forest leads Ahmet to discover an impromptu gathering in a clearing being entertained by a deejay only to be interrupted by his sheep breaking loose and interrupting the event. A missing sheep causes a rift between father and son with the latter not welcomed back into the house until it is found and the animal’s fate has a surreal outcome. The true heart and soul of the narrative is the relationship between the two brothers who are there for each other no matter what happens. The best moments involve the interactions between Arif Jakup and Agush Agushev as they believably convey a deep affection for each other.

The landscape is very much a character and the presence of sheep herding and smartphones emphasizes the clash between parental traditional expectations and teenage new-age ambitions. The most dramatic, effective and uplifting message is that compassion and understanding are essential in enabling someone to heal from a severe trauma rather than be forced fed a remedy determined by another’s timetable. The slow motion is a tad overdone but the inclusion of a pink sheep is a fun addition to the storytelling.

The 2025 Sundance Film Festival takes place January 23 to February 2, 2025, in person and online, and for more information visit sundance.org.

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada; he can be found at LinkedIn.