THE TALE OF SILYAN

2026 Oscar® Selection, North Macedonia;Two 2025 IDA Documentary Awards wins: Best Feature Documentary and Best Cinematography; Nominee, Best Documentary, 2026 Producers Guild of America Awards

Oscar®-nominated documentarian Tamara Kotevska (HONEYLAND) returns with a poetic and lyrical documentary set in rural Macedonia where family farms are struggling as their traditional way of life has become unsustainable. Looking down on this human drama are the town’s majestic storks, perched in enormous nests atop telephone poles while their clattering beaks provide a constant soundtrack. Rooted in the Macedonian myth of Silyan — a boy transformed into a stork after defying his father — the film draws a parallel to its subject, Nikola, a weathered farmer left behind when his adult son and family depart for Germany in search of a more secure future. When Nikola encounters an injured stork and tends to the fragile bird, a tender bond forms — one that reflects both his yearning for companionship and the looming uncertainty of his vanishing way of life. Through folklore, striking images and intimate observation, Kotevska crafts a story about absence and resilience, and about the delicate thread that ties human survival to the natural world. (Note courtesy of AFI FEST.) DIR/PROD Tamara Kotevska; PROD Jean Dakar, Anna Hashmi, Jordanco Petkovski. North Macedonia/U.S., 2025, color, 80 min. In Macedonian with English subtitles. RATED PG

Run Time: 80 Minutes

Opening Date: Saturday, February 28, 2026

Genre: Documentary

View Series Page