MOVIE OF THE WEEK November 28, 2025: THE TALE OF SILYAN
A stoic Macedonian farmer finds himself face to face with a changing world in Tamara Kotevska’s sobering but also hopeful documentary The Tale of Silyan. As the story of Nikola and his unexpected bond with an injured stork unfolds, Kotevska draws parallels to a traditional Macedonian myth in which a young man is cursed by his father to become a stork after refusing to help on the family farm.
In the myth, the father and son are separated until the son, Silyan, eventually sees the error of his ways and, in his stork form, returns home and becomes his father’s faithful companion, working with him side by side in the fields. In the film, Nikola is disappointed by the fact that this own son has left to find his way somewhere besides the land, even though Nikola is still surrounded by family: his wife, Jana; their daughter, Ane; her partner, Ace; and the couple’s young daughter, Ilina. Their lives near the village of Češinovo aren’t easy, but they have each other, and they’re surrounded by the majestic white storks the area is famous for.
But when the crops they work long, hard hours to harvest and get to market sit unsold because no one is willing to pay them a price that will allow them to cover the costs of running their farm, the family is forced to confront the reality that farming may no longer be a viable vocation, and their home may no longer be somewhere they can live, no matter how much they love it. Nikola understands this, but when he’s left alone, forced to work away from the land that’s part of his very identity, he struggles. And then his path crosses that of a stork with a broken wing, and he finds new purpose — and a new companion.
Kotevska doesn’t pull any punches in depicting the challenges facing traditional farmers like Nikola as the world changes around them, but what lingers longest after the film finishes telling its poignant story are the striking images of Macedonia: lush fields, lovely twilights, graceful birds perching on lofty nests. You can see why Nikola loves it and wants to fight for it — and that loyalty and persistence, as much as the charming nature of his connection with the injured stork, are what make this documentary so affecting. — Betsy Bozdech
Team #MOTW’s comments:
Nell Minow: The Tale of Silvan has exquisitely beautiful cinematography that, thanks to the skill of Tamara Kotevska, encompasses and then meshes together folklore and the clash of traditional farming and modern commerce. Kotevska’s patient tone and poetic images match the care that potato farmer Nicola brings to his planting and harvesting, the tenderness of his relationship with his wife and family, and the gentleness of his devotion to an injured stork.
Sherin Nicole Tamara Kotevska crafts film into origami in The Tale of Silyan, folding Macedonian daily life into a folkloric work of art that blooms like a living Miyazaki film. Her moving documentary is just as wistful, as fanciful, and as impactful as those epic but personal tales of caution and awe. It’s a bold compliment, but it isn’t hyperbole; it’s earned. Through a Macedonian farmer and his tender bond with an injured stork, Kotevska invites us to sit by the figurative fire for the telling of a new legend, where the pages of ancient folklore revolve into a cinematic meditation on migration, clinging to culture, and what it means to make a life when you’re left behind.
Leslie Combemale Even as The Tale of Silyan examines the economic inequities for Macedonian farmers and government overreach, this documentary hybrid is still a comfort. The clacking of the storks alone is like a balm to the soul. Add the gorgeous landscapes and familial joys, the love between lifelong couple Nicola and Jana, and Tamara Kotevska’s’s film is nothing short of an inspiration. Who knew watching a man petting a bird would be so soothing?
Jennifer Merin The Tale of Silyan is an exquisitely crafted documentary that introduce us to an aging Macedonian potato farmer and the injured stork that he takes under wing. In following their unusual relationsip, filmmaker Tamara Kotevska delves into the economic hardships that plague farmers who want to work their and and maintain their traditional way of life n Northern Macedonia, the very region where the filmmaker grew up. Read full review.
Sandie Angulo Chen: North Macedonia’s affecting Academy Award entry for Best International Feature Film, The Tale of Silyan, is a contemplative, quietly devastating documentary from filmmaker Tamara Kotevska, best known for co-directing Honeyland. Here, she turns her patient, observational gaze toward Nikola, a 60-year-old farmer whose children (and eventually his loving wife) move abroad in search of better-paying jobs, leaving him to tend the family homestead alone. His days slip by in muted routines until he finds a wounded stork and begins caring for it, forming an unexpected bond that becomes both solace and symbolism. The film’s cinematography is captivating, particularly its shots of the storks and landscapes. Without sentimentality, Kotevska offers a lingering, powerful meditation on loneliness, resilience, and the importance of hope.
Loren King As with the visually lush and narratively rich Honeyland which she co-directed, Tamara Kotevska’s latest nonfiction film, The Tale of Silvan, masterfully weaves stunning images of the landscape and the people of North Macedonia with a centuries-old folktale about a banished stork that echoes throughout this one-of-a-kind film. It centers on a family of famers headed by elderly Nikola and his wife Jana as they struggle to hold onto their farm in the face of government policies that make it impossible for North Macedonia farmers to eke out a living. Scenes of irate farmers hurling their produce into the road and heaps of potatoes, peppers and watermelons rotting in the sun are as jarring as they are beautifully composed. Nikola takes a job at a landfill, bulldozing food and debris into mountains of waste. When Nikola’s family leaves him behind in order to find better paying factory and restaurant jobs in Germany, he tends to an injured stork and the bird becomes his companion. Themes of migration and how changes to the environment, both natural and man-made, affect human and animal existence is rendered with a poetic spareness and visual sumptuousness.
Liz Whittemore Macedonian filmmaker Tamara Kotevska, best known for the 2019 Oscar-nominated documentary Honeyland, brings audiences a new homeland tale. This time, it is one of local folklore, economic crisis, food waste, and the extraordinary bond between humans and animals. The cinematography is breathtaking, with an almost otherworldly quality. The Tale of Silyan delivers an unexpected emotional journey that leaves an eternal imprint.
Cate Marquis As she did so well in Honeyland, documentary filmmaker Tamara Kotevska immerses us in the life of a traditional Macedonian farmer, Nicola, and his family, as they try to both hold on to their traditional ways and keep their fsmiy together. Like her previous film, the documentary has no narration but so immerses us in their lives that at time the film feels more like warm-hearted fiction than documentary. Their son has already left the farm for the city but Nicola and his wife Jana still holding on with their daughter and her husband. Despite a good harvest, prices are so low, it threatens the farm’s existence. The farmer’s story is told in parallel with an old folktale, about a father who is angered when his son, Silyan, wants to leave their farm to seek a different kind of life. The father curses his son, which turns him into a stork. Storks are a beloved presence in their village, and seem to be everywhere, and that connection is deepened when Nicola takes in a stork with a broken wing, and forms a bond with the bird. The fairy tale and the traditional farmer’s story blend beautifully in this moving documentary.
FILM DETAILS:
Title: The Tale of Silyan
Directors: Tamara Kotevska
Release Date: November 28, 2023
Running Time: 80 minutes
Language: Macedonian with English subtites
Screenwriters: Suz Curtis, Tamara Kotevska (Documentary)
Distribution Company: National Geographic Films
AWFJ Movie of the Week Panel Members: Sandie Angulo Chen, Betsy Bozdech, Leslie Combemale, Pam Grady, Loren King, Cate Marquis, Jennifer Merin, Nell Minow, Sherin Nicole, Liz Whittemore
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Edited by Jennifer Merin
