DocFest: The Tale of Silyan
October 22, 2025
A Macedonian folktale comes to life when a wounded stork is rescued by an unlikely savior, transforming both of their lives for the better in this whimsical and breathtaking new film from director Tamara Kotevska (Honeyland). North Macedonia's Official 2026 Academy Awards® Submission for Best International Feature.
SIFF year-round passes and vouchers are not valid for DocFest screenings.
Part documentary, part parable, The Tale of Silyan unfolds in the village of Češinovo, whose dwindling numbers of farmers coexist with the largest white stork population in North Macedonia. There we meet Nikola and Jana, an aging but spirited farming couple whose warmth and vitality defy their years. But as economic forces make Macedonian family farms unsustainable, Nikola’s children leave the country to find work in Germany, soon followed by his wife Jana, who joins them so that she can take care of their children while they work. Left behind, Nikola forms a surprising connection with a wounded stork, one of the many majestic birds nesting on rooftops and church towers across the region. Kotevska pairs Nikola’s story with the legend of Silyan, a farmer’s son cursed to live as a stork, drawing poignant parallels between myth and modern migration. Kotevska and cinematographer Jean Dakar capture this interplay of myth and modernity with painterly elegance — storks gliding over rooftops, quiet harvest rituals, moments of silence brimming with meaning. At once intimate and expansive, The Tale of Silyan is a meditation on migration, conservation, and the possibility of renewal amidst vanishing traditions.
- Director: Tamara Kotevska
- Principal Cast: Nikola Conev, Jana Coneva, Aleksandra Coneva, Aleksandar Conev, Ilina Coneva
- Country: North Macedonia
- Year: 2025
- Running Time: 81 min.
- Producer: Anna Hasmi, Tamara Kotevska, Jean Dakar
- Cinematographers: Jean Dakar
- Editors: Martin Ivanov
- Music: Joe Wilson Davies, Hun OukPark
- Awards: Official Academy Awards® Submission 2026 (International Feature)
- Filmography: The Walk (2023), Honeyland (2019)
- Language: Macedonian
- Has Subtitles: Yes
- US Distributor: National Geographic Documentary Films
- International Sales: Dogwoof