On March 16, 2025, a fire broke out at the Pulse nightclub in the small North Macedonian town of Kočani, injuring hundreds and killing 63 people due to burn damage, smoke inhalation and other physical traumas sustained while attendees scrambled to flee through the venue’s sole exit. The club had only one fire extinguisher and its ceiling was made of highly flammable material, while the venue’s 250-person capacity was exceeded by double the amount of people, most of them between the ages of 16 and 25.
Making its world premiere in Sarajevo’s documentary competition, Milcho Manchevski’s “Good People” leaves the broader political context to the journalists. Arriving a little over thirty years since his auspicious debut, the muscular war drama “After the Rain,” nabbed Venice’s Golden Lion, this strikingly austere and undecorated film, which Manchevski self-funded, doesn’t cover the vast institutional failures that precipitated the incident and increased its casualties. Instead, it assembles over 20 first-hand accounts by victims and witnesses, bringing to life the tragedy’s harrowing timeline through testimonies entirely. The result is a haunting portrait of social collapse whose power is premised on the words and faces of survivors.
