Fifteen-year-old Ahmet lives in a remote Yuruk village in North Macedonia. After losing his mother, he balances herding sheep, caring for his younger brother, and navigating his father’s strict rules and the expectations of his conservative community. He finds an unexpected escape in techno music, which draws him closer to love interest Aya, though she is already promised to someone else. Winner of the Sundance World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award and a Special Jury Award for Creative Vision, DJ Ahmet is both a crowd-pleaser and a sensitive exploration of life in patriarchal societies.

Reviews

‘Combining charming performances, arresting imagery and, naturally, a great soundtrack, the result feels universal because it acknowledges that everyone was young and yearning once.’
★★★★ Matt Glasby, Radio Times

‘It’s a rich depiction of a traditional Yörük community — Turkic tribal people — that feels authentically lived in rather than an ethnographic curio, as well as a fresh coming-of-age film.’
Wendy Ide, The Observer