THE TALE OF SILYAN Documentary

October 26 screening to be followed by a conversation with director and producer Tamara Kotevska and cinematographer and producer Jean Dakar.

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. –Mimi Brody