Milcho Manchevski Turns His Camera on the Kočani Fire Survivors in 'Good People', Premiering at Sarajevo
Milcho Manchevski, the Macedonian director whose debut feature Before the Rain won the Golden Lion at Venice in 1994, has premiered his first documentary at the 32nd Sarajevo Film Festival. Good People (Dobri Lugje), an 86-minute film about the survivors of the 2025 Pulse nightclub fire in North Macedonia, screened in the festival's documentary competition, where 51 films are vying for the Heart of Sarajevo awards this year (Sarajevo Film Festival).
On 16 March 2025, sparks from indoor fireworks hit the ceiling of the Pulse nightclub in the town of Kočani, igniting a blaze that killed 63 people and injured 193. It was the deadliest fire in North Macedonian history. An investigation later concluded the venue was unlicensed, operated against safety standards, and had insufficient emergency exits and only one functioning fire extinguisher (Variety). A single emergency exit was locked (Reuters). A trial over the fire began in November 2025, with 37 people charged in connection with the disaster (Reuters).
Manchevski began filming Good People just a month after the tragedy. He told Variety he wanted to give the survivors "a voice." His approach was deliberately stripped back: interviews shot against a black background, survivors in dark clothing, and no archival footage of the fire itself. He described the style as "extremely ascetic, austere and minimalist" (Variety).
The director said he financed the film himself after alleging he was "blacklisted by the Macedonian Film Agency." He also pledged that all proceeds from Good People will go to the survivors in Kočani (Variety).
The fire's aftermath rippled well beyond the courtroom. The then Interior Minister, Panče Toškovski, said the nightclub had obtained its operating licence thanks to "corruption and bribery," a statement followed by country-wide anti-corruption protests. Manchevski said the tragedy had been "hijacked for political goals" (Variety). A nationwide inspection of similar venues followed, and dozens of entertainment spots were shut down.
Manchevski's connection to Sarajevo runs deep. He was selected for the festival's first edition in 1995, when the city was under siege during the Bosnian War. His fiction debut, Before the Rain, won Venice's top prize and went on to an Oscar nomination. He previously touched documentary form with Mothers (2010), an experimental feature that played at Toronto and Berlin (Variety).
Good People marks his first fully documentary feature — a film made quickly, self-funded, and pointed squarely at the people who lived through the worst night in Kočani's history.
