John Vardar vs the Galaxy () is a 2024 animated space opera comedy film written and directed by Goce Cvetanovski. It is the first animated film from North Macedonia. It stars the voices of Žarko Dimoski, Damjan Cvetanovski and Emilija Micevska accompanied by Filip Trajković, Toni Denkovski, Atanas Atanasovski, Sladjana Vujošević, Martin Gjorgoski, Elena Tarčugovska and Bojana Toskovska. It is a co-production between North Macedonia, Croatia, Hungary and Bulgaria.
Synopsis.
John Vardar is a failed actor who is abducted by an alien spaceship. John becomes a prisoner of the intergalactic "zoo" of the spaceship's captain, Zark, where he meets two evil creatures, who steal the spaceship and the most dangerous weapon in the universe, the VMK (Reality Modification Device). However, Zark secretly plants the weapon in John's head, causing everything the human says to become real.
Release.
"John Vardar vs the Galaxy" had its world premiere on October 5, 2024, at the 57th Sitges Film Festival, then screened on October 15, 2024, at the 9th KineNova International Film Festival, on October 18, 2024, at the 48th São Paulo International Film Festival, on December 6, 2024, at the 14th Balneário Camboriú International Film Festival, on March 15, 2025, at the 29th Sofia International Film Festival, on April 8, 2025, at the 26th Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema, and on April 18, 2025, at the 47th Moscow International Film Festival.
The film was released commercially on November 1, 2024, in Macedonian theaters, then released in Hungarian theaters on March 27, 2025.