SKOPJE: Macedonian director Marjan Gavrilovski has started shooting his third feature film Ants / Mravki, a darkly comic drama supported by the North Macedonia Film Agency.
The film follows retired detective Zvonko, who, together with his friends, discovers the body of a murdered trans woman, only for the local police chief to hide the case for openly homophobic reasons. Zvonko initially targets Damjana, a trans woman he believes is the killer, but she later joins him in the search for the real culprit, forcing the two to confront their differences as they work side by side. As they dig deeper, they eventually trace the killer back to the police chief, who is consumed by shame over his secret relationship with the victim. In the end, Zvonko is left to face the consequences of openly befriending a trans woman in his traditional, homophobic community.
“Ants is, above all, a deeply human story, which I believe is timeless because it explores the very core of human emotion. Precisely because of that, I don’t think there is a specific moment when such stories should be told. On the contrary, they need to be told more and more often”, Marjan Gavrilovski told FNE.
The screenplay is penned by Nikola Kuzelov and lensed by Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska’s Honeyland / Medena zemja (Trice Films, Apollo Media) cinematographer Fejmi Daut. The main cast is led by Senko Velinov and Nikola Kuzelov.
Ants is produced by Romir Jakupi through Macedonian Time Lapse Movies. It was supported by the North Macedonia Film Agency with 243,902 EUR / 15 m MKD.
Shooting started on 27 July in Skopje and it will wrap on 24 August 2026. The film will be finished by October 2026, and it will be released in 2027.
Marjan Gavrilovski was born in 1983 in Skopje. After attending film school in Sofia (Bulgaria), he directed six short films before making his first independent feature film Horse Riders / Javachi na konji in 2016. His sophomore feature, Te Dua, I Swear / Te dua, zimi mene, was among the Top 10 most watched films in North Macedonia cinemas in 2023. Both of his feature films were produced by Emperor Production.
Production Information:
Producer:
Time Lapse Movies (North Macedonia)
Romir Jakupi: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Credits:
Director: Marjan Gavrilovski
Scriptwriter: Nikola Kuzelov
DoP: Fejmi Daut
Cast: Senko Velinov, Nikola Kuzelov, Sashko Kocev, Atanas Atanasovski, Vlado Jovanovski, Bereda Reshit, Tanja Kochovska, Vladimir Tuliev, Kristina Atanasova-Arsova, Mimi Tanevska, Dragan Spasov-Dac
