Winner of the Cinema and Arts Award at the 82nd Venice Film Festival, and just Shortlisted for this year’s Best Documentary Feature Oscar, THE TALE OF SILYAN is a poignant and visually arresting story set in the heart of rural North Macedonia. Nikola, a farmer grappling with the harsh realities of new government policies, finds himself unable to sell his land or crops. When his family leaves in search of a better life abroad, Nikola takes a job as a landfill attendant, where he encounters the injured white stork Silyan. As he nurses the bird back to health, an unlikely bond forms between man and animal. Woven through their journey is a rich North Macedonian folktale, infusing the film with a lyrical, mythical quality. The result is a deeply moving film that touches on climate change, economic migration, resilience and the quiet power of connection. Our guests on this edition of Cinemafile are Director/Producer Tamara Kotevska and Cinematographer/Producer Jean Dakar.

Toronto International Film Festival documentary programmer Thom Powers describes it as “whimsical and breathtaking… As a documentary maker, Kotevska is working in her own register, deploying poetry instead of didacticism. There are visual moments so striking, they could be framed as photographs in a museum.”