Inspired by the folktale of the boy Siljan, who, after a quarrel with his father, turns into a stork and leaves home, the film is a story about the relationship between a farmer and a white stork.
Critics' Reviews
100
Kotevska, whose previous doc “Honeyland” followed a devoted beekeeper, has an affinity for documenting vanishing ways of life. In Nikola, she finds an improbably charming protagonist. While rugged in appearance—his skin seared by 45 years working under the sun—Nikola retains a certain childlike playfulness that shines in the company of other men whose families have left town for greener pastures. Alone and unable to make a living farming, he gets a job working at a landfill and puts his land up for sale. It’s there that some of the most horrifying images in “The Tale of Silyan” materialize. Storks roam the piles of garbage in search of food, but often end up dead in the same place. Their majestic bodies reduced to rotting trash. And what does that say about the aging men now forced to toil there? Once they have fulfilled the product of their labor, they move around trash to survive. Amid the disarray, Nikola finds an injured stork and brings it home, more like a pal than a pet.
Crew of The Tale of Silyan
Full backstage crew list →- Released November 28, 2025