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It’s all quiet on the Berlin deals front as the sales agencies wind down their operations at the European Film Market. By Monday, many offices and stands were almost completely deserted. Deals are being reported but it’s more of a “steady flow” than a gush. That said, most sales agents remain happy that the EFM continues to be an “efficient” place to do business.

AGC Studios’ Stuart Ford tells Variety, “Overseas business has been very solid. International buyers are taking their time, but we’ve been seeing a steady flow of deals closing and fully expect that trend to continue apace, particularly on Bill Condon’s ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman’ and Noah Hawley’s ‘Nowhere Fast.’”

Oliver Berben, head of German production and distribution powerhouse Constantin Film, comments, “The market at this year’s EFM is okay. It’s a bit quieter than other recent markets that we’ve seen,...

Berlin-based sales agency Films Boutique has secured the first international deals for Georgi M. Unkovski’s “DJ Ahmet” following its world premiere in the World Dramatic Competition of the Sundance Film Festival, where the film won both the Special Jury Award for Creative Vision and the Audience Award.

Films Boutique has sold the drama to Madman Entertainment in Australia and New Zealand, September Film Distribution in Benelux, Films We Like in Canada, Filmin in Spain, Lev Cinema in Israel, Leopardo Filmes in Portugal and Discovery in former Yugoslavia with further territories already in negotiation.

Julien Razafindranaly, head of sales at Films Boutique, said: “We are particularly thankful to Sundance for having been such a great launchpad for the film. We will long remember the electric premiere at the Egyptian on the opening night of the festival.

“Rarely a film can receive all at once the praise from the critics, the...

Sundance is a place for discovery, where new stars are minted because of the fresh, invigorating images they bring to the screen. It was where Steven Soderbergh helped kick off the indie film revolution in 1989 with “sex, lies, and videotape” and Quentin Tarantino launched “Reservoir Dogs” in 1992. They showed that, at Sundance, if you have something to say, you can have a seat at the table.

This year, that daring new voice belongs to Eva Victor, whose comedic character study “Sorry, Baby,” about a young professor reeling from a trauma, sold to A24 for $8 million. “Sorry, Baby” also has the distinction of placing first in many of the categories in IndieWire’s 2025 Sundance Critics Survey, including Best Performance (for Victor herself), Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best First Film, and Best Film itself.

Though “Sorry, Baby” was the undeniable favorite across the board at Sundance 2025, our critics survey shared the love...

When a society or community is steeped in rigid values and customs, it often creates a stifling environment where a tyrannical attitude becomes the norm, and individual expression and critical thinking are suppressed. This atmosphere of enforced conservatism can permeate all aspects of life, from personal relationships to family dynamics. Georgi M. Unkovski‘s Dj Ahmet, a warm-hearted film, offers a gentle counterpoint to such restrictive environments, championing the importance of cultural expression and the joy of individual freedom. It suggests that there is room for individual spirit and the power of will to uplift and connect even within seemingly traditional communities.

Ahmet, a 15-year-old boy, lives in a North Macedonian village with his younger brother, Naim, and their strict father. They are a family of shepherds, earning their living by selling sheep’s milk cheese. Since their mother’s death, Naim has stopped speaking, and their father seeks help from a local healer.

The first time 15-year-old Ahmet (Arif Jakup) smiles broadly on-screen lives up to the cliché that someone’s infectious grin can light up a room. Amid the bright colors of an Edm festival happening in the middle of the forest, the teen with wistful eyes surrenders to an upbeat tune and to the crowd of young people around him. By that point, most viewers will already have been irremediably disarmed by “DJ Ahmet,” Georgi M. Unkovski’s music-soaked, delightfully humorous and unpretentiously stylish debut set in a remote North Macedonian village.

But that moment of enjoyment is only a brief, illusory respite from Ahmet’s laborious responsibilities herding sheep and caring for his kid brother Naim (Agush Agushev), the picture of innocence and adorableness, who hasn’t spoken since their mother died. From the onset, Unkovski introduces a rich soundtrack that mixes modern English-language songs with tracks specific to the region,...

Living in a remote Yuruk village in North Macedonia, the titular 15-year-old boy in “DJ Ahmet” desperately wants two things he cannot have: to share music with others and to be with the girl next door, who is already promised to someone else. Director Georgi M. Unkovski knows a thing or two about wanting something that feels impossible, having gone through multiple funding and production frustrations in the five-year journey to make his feature debut, premiering as part of Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition.

Speaking exclusively with Variety ahead of the festival, the Macedonian writer-director, whose work has been featured in over 200 international festivals, HBO and MTV, says he first had the idea for the feature around the time he screened his short film “Sticker” at Sundance in 2020. “We got the first round of funding at the end of the year but only finished funding the film three months ago,...