North Macedonia is known for its rich cultural heritage, mountainous terrain, stunning lakes and the avian wonder of white storks, which have made this Eastern European country a preferred location for raising chicks.
Majestic birds are so woven into life in North Macedonia that they are part of the country's mythology, including one folk tale about a father who placed a curse on his son Siljan, turning him into a stork. This story reports The Tale of Silyandirector's Oscar-winning documentary Tamara Kotevskayanative of North Macedonia.
“It's the national bird of Macedonia. And since I was growing up, it's the first fairy tale I've ever heard from my grandparents,” Kotevska said alongside producer-director-director. Jean Dakar appeared at Deadline's Contenders Film: Documentary event. “It’s just something deeply rooted in my heart.”
The National Geographic film centers on Nicola, a farmer who has worked the land all his life. As he plows the fields, white storks follow him, scooping up treats like frogs and snakes from the furrows. Stunning photographs of birds nesting on chimneys and other structures were taken in Dakar; he also photographed them in flight using drones.
“The drone itself is quite an unnatural thing, especially for wild birds. It flies in an unnatural way, makes a lot of noise and can be quite intrusive in itself,” Dakar explained. After spending so much time with the birds, the filmmakers witnessed the birth of new stork chicks; young people did not consider the drone to be an alien because they grew up with it, which eventually allowed the drone to accompany them in the air.
“We have been in their lives from the moment they hatched from their eggs,” Dakar said. “They got used to the equipment and our way of working to the point where they weren't bothered by our presence at all. That's how we managed to make the stork material feel comfortable and natural, rather than being conscious of us.”
As the film progresses, changes in government policy make it economically unviable for farmers like Nikola to pursue their traditional calling. Needing a job, Nicola goes to work as a heavy equipment driver in an unsavory environment.
“Thousands of people like him end up working at the landfill,” Kotevska commented. “It's really common.”
Since the fields lie uncultivated and food sources are no longer available there, the storks resort to collecting waste from landfills. It was there that Nikola came across a wounded stork and decided to try to cure it.
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“It is not such a rare situation that people in Macedonia, in villages where there are storks, rescue storks,” Kotevska said. “But we didn't expect that it would happen in a landfill, and that Nicola would actually have the desire and decision to take care of this injured animal. So, naturally, filming extended for another year… [became] the third act of a film that brought a lot of hope to all of us.”
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