Somewhere between a village wedding and a blown-out speaker stack, DJ Ahmet finds its pulse.

Georgi M. Unkovski’s debut feature, winner of the World Cinema Dramatic Competition Audience Award at Sundance last year, has just dropped a new trailer and poster ahead of its UK and ROI cinema release on March 27. If first love had a BPM, this would be it.

Set in rural North Macedonia, the film follows 15-year-old Ahmet, a boy growing up in a remote Yörük village where tradition isn’t just respected, it’s enforced. His world is mapped out for him in advance: obey your father, don’t ask questions, marry within the lines. Then he discovers dance music.

What starts as sonic escape turns into emotional rebellion. Between livestock chores and community expectations, Ahmet builds a secret inner life powered by pirated beats and cheap speakers. The bass becomes a refuge from his father’s rigid authority and a conservative social order that leaves little room for improvisation. Complicating matters further: he falls for a girl who has already been promised to someone else, turning adolescent longing into quiet defiance.

Unkovski doesn’t frame the story as a glossy coming-of-age fantasy. This is less “small-town boy makes it big” and more “small-town boy tries to breathe.” The tension isn’t just romantic, it’s structural. Love here is political. Music is insurgent. Even dancing feels like crossing a border.

The new trailer leans into that friction: sweeping shots of mountainous isolation cut against flickers of neon-lit euphoria. A community bound by custom versus a teenager discovering rhythm as identity. The poster follows suit, positioning Ahmet somewhere between tradition and turntables, caught in the liminal space where obedience starts to crack.

Since its Sundance win, “DJ Ahmet” has built a quiet reputation as one of those audience favorites that lingers, tender without being naïve, culturally specific yet universally restless. It’s a story about first love, yes, but also about the radical act of imagining a different soundtrack for your life.

“DJ Ahmet: lands in UK and ROI cinemas on March 27. Bring earplugs for the bass and maybe some patience for the silence that follows.