TAMARA KOTEVSKA

(North Macedonia)

MAN vs. FLOCK

 BIOGRAPHY

She finished primary school in Skopje. In her third year of high school, she got a scholarship for studying abroad in Tennessee, USA, for one year. In 2012 she started studying at the faculty of Dramatic Arts in Skopje, where she is now on the fourth year of studies. In 2015, she participated in Sarajevo Film Festival’s Talent Campus. In 2016, her script for Stuffed Life won the scholarship promoted by MIDPOINT Central European Script Center at the Eastweek Scriptwriting Workshop for New Talents at the Trieste Film Festival. She directed the Oscar nominated Sundance winner documentary Honeyland (2019) together with Ljubomir Stefanov.

SYNOPSIS

Man vs. Flock is a depiction of intergenerational conflict that looks at the rift between old-fashioned values and the rapid pace of modern life. It is the story of an old, stubborn peasant who is proud of his roots and land; his modern, independent daughter who is trying to escape from the traditional role assigned to her; and a young, adrenaline-addicted vlogger who wants to discover his roots but, through a series of misunderstandings, creates chaos along the way.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

Тhe main subject that I’m interested in by creating this story is the conflict between the old world of traditions and the modern world of free wills, progress of the society and “open-mindedness”.

In order to show the peak of this conflict, I have intentionally chosen the relationship of the main characters to be the one between father and daughter – a symbol for the new and a symbol for the old, which cannot go one without another.

This story is especially important to me because I am personally involved in these real people’s lives. Also, by finding and re-creating this story, I am in the vlogger’s shoes and I am dealing with his obstacles as a character. So, this is a fiction story combined with real elements and through this approach I want to achieve documentary style in a fiction story.