BROJ
A Feature Film About Genius, Displacement, and Identity
Broj /broy/ број
- noun. Number; a mathematical value; a figure used in a calculation.
- noun. A Statistic; one of 28,000 children (Deca Begalci) evacuated during the Greek Civil War.
- verb. To Count; the act of proving one's existence when the world has crossed you out.
A Feature Film Written by Stefo Milankov
Niki wants to find out why his parents left him in an orphanage without a last name.
Based on the untold story of 28,000 Macedonian child refugees, 80 years ago.
Synopsis
Long Story Short
Born without a known last name in post-war Macedonia and raised inside the Soviet-era Child Refugee Orphanage System, young Niki is uprooted when his Polish orphanage closes in 1963. Sent to a harsher facility in Zgorzelec, he navigates powerful bullies, underground economies, forbidden music, and the confusing spark of first love — all while his neurodivergent genius in mathematics begins to emerge.
Niki’s story is a coming-of-age Cold War odyssey inspired by the real experiences of the creator’s father as one of 28,000 Macedonian children displaced during the Greek Civil War.
What begins as a boy’s struggle for belonging becomes a dangerous journey through black markets, espionage, ciphers, casinos, and the violent politics of the Eastern Bloc, leading to an huge shake-up, a revelation, and a final moment of moral clarity.
Visual Moodboard
Cast of Characters
Broj People
Niki
A genius but traumatized Macedonian teen displaced twice by war. Neurodivergent, obsessive, awkward, struggling to understand his identity.
Damir
Blind, musical, gentle, southern Balkans background. Niki’s grounding force and emotional mirror. Holds fragments of Niki’s forgotten past.
MAGDA
A magnetic young woman who runs the orphanages and orphans. Smart, seductive, and dangerous — yet deeply human.
Yuri
A Soviet–Polish official. Charismatic, calculating, fatherly when beneficial, always withholding something. Sees Niki as both a son and a tool.
Olga
Grounded and resilient, carrying loss with quiet strength, protecting what remains of family and belonging in an unforgiving world.
APOLLO
Ethnically Greek, was swept up in Greece's chaotic war. A bully shaped by violence and insecurity. Brutal on the outside, fractured on the inside.
ELIAS
Niki’s conflicted peer — torn between loyalty and morality. He knows the past that Niki can’t remember and envies his prodigious intelligence.
MARKO
Atracted by the west way, an escape artist, a friend who understands Niki’s brilliance — showing an interest that goes beyond friendship.
GEORGIE
Young American spy. Naive but stubbornly ambitious, opportunistic, charming and dangerous in her good intentions.
Sasha
Controlled, strategic, and emotionally opaque — someone who understands power as a system and survives by staying one step ahead of it.
Travis
An observant American outsider, he's pulled between curiosity, imposter syndrome, and the desire to succeed, while settling old scores.
Ilya
A hardened guerrilla commander, disciplined, pragmatic, and shaped by conflict, carrying a rigid sense of order forged in war.
Creative Vision
Broj is a film about a name — the loss of it, the theft of it, and the lifelong journey to reclaim it.
Growing up with stories of displaced Macedonian children, I learned that identity is not simply inherited; it is negotiated, stolen, erased, repurposed, and sometimes violently reclaimed. These children survived not only war, but an entire bureaucracy engineered to strip them of language, culture, and memory.
This film does not attempt to recreate history — it attempts to restore humanity to a generation erased from records.
Niki’s mind is mathematical, but his heart is fractured. Through him, we see borders shift, alliances break, addictions form, and genius emerge in the least forgiving environment. His life becomes a map of vectors — each pointing toward a self that was always forbidden.
As Niki tries to solve the ciphers of governments and childhood trauma, he realizes the greatest code he must break is his own identity.
This is a story of survival, not as a heroic act, but as a reclamation of truth in a world built on lies.
History
The Forgotten Displacement
Understanding the historical context of Macedonian displacement in the shadow of the Cold War.
Historical Context
Between 1946 and 1949, the Greek Civil War forced over 28,000 Macedonian children to flee across borders into Communist Eastern Bloc countries. Many were separated from parents, renamed, reclassified, and absorbed into socialist orphanage systems.
TEAM
Production Team
The creative minds bringing this story to life*
Stefo Milankov
Executive Producer / Writer
Stefo (Steve) Milankov, embarking in Film School in New York City, is a veteran of writing and stewardship from his 25-year career in Corporate Law. An on-going investor in Broadway Theater, Mr. Milankov is building on his storytelling experience in the medium of film through historical fiction.
Daniel Diaz
Creative PRoducer
Daniel (Danipotter) a Colombian creative producer, brings a decade of storytelling vision into filmmaking. Drawing from years of narrative work across interdisciplinary creative fields, he now focuses on developing historically rooted, character-driven cinema. Broj marks his debut project as a producer of historical fiction.
*Legal: the creative team operates strictly as independent contractors/artists and not as a partnership. No inference is to be taken from the discussions had with the creative team unless in writing. All intellectual property is owned by Square Root Milankov Film and Theatrical LLC.
Join Our Journey
Be the first to receive updates on production, behind-the-scenes, and festival screenings.
We respect your privacy. No spam — ever.
Professional inquiries welcome. Representation preferred for casting and key creatives.
BROj
A feature film about genius, displacement, and identity in Cold War Eastern Europe.
Quick Links
Resources
Contact: dani@brojfilm.com
© 2025 Square Root Milankov Film and Theatrical LLC. All rights reserved.
BROJ
A Feature Film About Genius, Displacement, and Identity
Broj /broy/ број
- noun. Number; a mathematical value; a figure used in a calculation.
- noun. A Statistic; one of 28,000 children (Deca Begalci) evacuated during the Greek Civil War.
- verb. To Count; the act of proving one's existence when the world has crossed you out.
A Feature Film Written by Stefo Milankov
Niki wants to find out why his parents left him in an orphanage without a last name.
Based on the untold story of 28,000 Macedonian child refugees, 80 years ago.
Synopsis
Long Story Short
Born without a known last name in post-war Macedonia and raised inside the Soviet-era Child Refugee Orphanage System, young Niki is uprooted when his Polish orphanage closes in 1963. Sent to a harsher facility in Zgorzelec, he navigates powerful bullies, underground economies, forbidden music, and the confusing spark of first love — all while his neurodivergent genius in mathematics begins to emerge.
Niki’s story is a coming-of-age Cold War odyssey inspired by the real experiences of the creator’s father as one of 28,000 Macedonian children displaced during the Greek Civil War.
What begins as a boy’s struggle for belonging becomes a dangerous journey through black markets, espionage, ciphers, casinos, and the violent politics of the Eastern Bloc, leading to an huge shake-up, a revelation, and a final moment of moral clarity.
Full Synopsis
Broj follows 15-year-old Niki — a boy with no official surname, no nation willing to claim him, and no memory of the parents he lost in the aftermath of the Greek Civil War. Like thousands of Macedonian children, he is absorbed into the Socialist States’ child refugee system, where survival depends on obedience, silence, and usefulness.
After rising academically in an orphanage in Gdańsk, Poland, Niki is displaced once again when the system quietly begins to unravel. In the summer of 1963, he is sent to a remote home for boys near a contested border — a place governed by labor, fear, and informal hierarchies. There, besides his blind childhood friend Damir, Niki encounters a volatile mix of friendships and threats: Apollo and Elias, boys from his past who carry old violence forward; Marko, the lone German orphan dreaming of escape; and Magda, a sensual magnetic young woman who runs the institutions’ finances and sets its rules.
As Niki’s unusual aptitude begins to draw attention, protection becomes dangerous. A failed attempt to break free leaves lasting consequences — emotional and practical, and pushes him beyond the narrow safety he understands. He briefly enters an unfamiliar world of sound, images, and possibility — American music, contraband culture, and overwhelming sensory freedom — before being pulled back under control.
Niki is drawn deeper into structures that value his usefulness while keeping his past sealed. At the same time, fragments of memory begin to surface: a village, a language, a life that existed before displacement. As pressure mounts and trust erodes, Niki leaves again, moving across borders without certainty or permission.
His journey returns him to Macedonia, where a City and a System collapse under devastating forces surrounding him. In the aftermath, Niki is finally confronted with the truth about his origins and the cost of survival.
Broj is a coming-of-age story about displacement and recognition — where identity is not discovered, but reclaimed slowly, through loss, restraint, and the courage to remain visible when safety disappears.
Themes
Visual Moodboard
Cast of Characters
Broj People
Niki
A genius but traumatized Macedonian teen displaced twice by war. Neurodivergent, obsessive, awkward, struggling to understand his identity.
Damir
Blind, musical, gentle, southern Balkans background. Niki’s grounding force and emotional mirror. Holds fragments of Niki’s forgotten past.
MAGDA
A magnetic young woman who runs the orphanages and orphans. Smart, seductive, and dangerous — yet deeply human.
Yuri
A Soviet–Polish official. Charismatic, calculating, fatherly when beneficial, always withholding something. Sees Niki as both a son and a tool.
Olga
Grounded and resilient, carrying loss with quiet strength, protecting what remains of family and belonging in an unforgiving world.
APOLLO
Ethnically Greek, was swept up in Greece's chaotic war. A bully shaped by violence and insecurity. Brutal on the outside, fractured on the inside.
ELIAS
Niki’s conflicted peer — torn between loyalty and morality. He knows the past that Niki can’t remember and envies his prodigious intelligence.
MARKO
Atracted by the west way, an escape artist, a friend who understands Niki’s brilliance — showing an interest that goes beyond friendship.
GEORGIE
Young American spy. Naive but stubbornly ambitious, opportunistic, charming and dangerous in her good intentions.
Travis
An observant American outsider, he's pulled between curiosity, imposter syndrome, and the desire to succeed, while settling old scores.
Sasha
Controlled, strategic, and emotionally opaque — someone who understands power as a system and survives by staying one step ahead of it.
Ilya
A hardened guerrilla commander, disciplined, pragmatic, and shaped by conflict, carrying a rigid sense of order forged in war.
Creative Vision
Broj is a film about a name — the loss of it, the theft of it, and the lifelong journey to reclaim it.
Growing up with stories of displaced Macedonian children, I learned that identity is not simply inherited; it is negotiated, stolen, erased, repurposed, and sometimes violently reclaimed. These children survived not only war, but an entire bureaucracy engineered to strip them of language, culture, and memory.
This film does not attempt to recreate history — it attempts to restore humanity to a generation erased from records.
Niki’s mind is mathematical, but his heart is fractured. Through him, we see borders shift, alliances break, addictions form, and genius emerge in the least forgiving environment. His life becomes a map of vectors — each pointing toward a self that was always forbidden.
As Niki tries to solve the ciphers of governments and childhood trauma, he realizes the greatest code he must break is his own identity.
This is a story of survival, not as a heroic act, but as a reclamation of truth in a world built on lies.
History
The Forgotten Displacement
Understanding the historical context of Macedonian displacement in the shadow of the Cold War.
Historical Context
Between 1946 and 1949, the Greek Civil War forced over 28,000 Macedonian children to flee across borders into Communist Eastern Bloc countries. Many were separated from parents, renamed, reclassified, and absorbed into socialist orphanage systems.
Timeline
1946-1949
Greek Civil War & The Child Refugees
28,000 Macedonian children are taken or forced to flee. Names erased. Identities rewritten. This is where Niki’s story begins — a boy without a last name.
1963
System Collapse & Second Displacement
The Soviet refugee program runs out of steam; they've served their purpose. Children are transferred, abandoned, or reclassified. Niki is displaced again — sent to Zgorzelec, on the contested Polish-German border.
1950s
Cold War Tensions Escalate
Refugee children are raised across the Eastern Bloc.Educated, disciplined — but never truly “from” anywhere.Identity becomes an administrative decision.
1967
Cold War Tensions Escalate
Another political storm approaches Greece.The forces that erased Niki’s identity are still at work.He cannot stop history — but he can choose who he becomes.
TEAM
Production Team
The creative minds bringing this story to life*
Stefo Milankov
Executive Producer / Writer
Stefo (Steve) Milankov, embarking in Film School in New York City, is a veteran of writing and stewardship from his 25-year career in Corporate Law. An on-going investor in Broadway Theater, Mr. Milankov is building on his storytelling experience in the medium of film through historical fiction.
Daniel Diaz
Creative PRoducer
Daniel (Danipotter) a Colombian creative producer, brings a decade of storytelling vision into filmmaking. Drawing from years of narrative work across interdisciplinary creative fields, he now focuses on developing historically rooted, character-driven cinema. Broj marks his debut project as a producer of historical fiction.
*Legal: the creative team operates strictly as independent contractors/artists and not as a partnership. No inference is to be taken from the discussions had with the creative team unless in writing. All intellectual property is owned by Square Root Milankov Film and Theatrical LLC.
Join Our Journey
Be the first to receive updates on production, behind-the-scenes, and festival screenings.
We respect your privacy. No spam — ever.
Professional inquiries welcome. Representation preferred for casting and key creatives.
BROj
A feature film about genius, displacement, and identity in Cold War Eastern Europe.
Quick Links
Resources
Contact: dani@brojfilm.com
© 2025 Square Root Milankov Film and Theatrical LLC. All rights reserved.
BROJ
A Feature Film About Genius, Displacement, and Identity
Broj /broy/ број
- noun. Number; a mathematical value; a figure used in a calculation.
- noun. A Statistic; one of 28,000 children (Deca Begalci) evacuated during the Greek Civil War.
- verb. To Count; the act of proving one's existence when the world has crossed you out.
A Feature Film Written by Stefo Milankov
Niki wants to find out why his parents left him in an orphanage without a last name.
Based on the untold story of 28,000 Macedonian child refugees, 80 years ago.
Synopsis
Long Story Short
Born without a known last name in post-war Macedonia and raised inside the Soviet-era Child Refugee Orphanage System, young Niki is uprooted when his Polish orphanage closes in 1963. Sent to a harsher facility in Zgorzelec, he navigates powerful bullies, underground economies, forbidden music, and the confusing spark of first love — all while his neurodivergent genius in mathematics begins to emerge.
Niki’s story is a coming-of-age Cold War odyssey inspired by the real experiences of the creator’s father as one of 28,000 Macedonian children displaced during the Greek Civil War.
What begins as a boy’s struggle for belonging becomes a dangerous journey through black markets, espionage, ciphers, casinos, and the violent politics of the Eastern Bloc, leading to an huge shake-up, a revelation, and a final moment of moral clarity.
Full Synopsis
Broj follows 15-year-old Niki — a boy with no official surname, no nation willing to claim him, and no memory of the parents he lost in the aftermath of the Greek Civil War. Like thousands of Macedonian children, he is absorbed into the Socialist States’ child refugee system, where survival depends on obedience, silence, and usefulness.
After rising academically in an orphanage in Gdańsk, Poland, Niki is displaced once again when the system quietly begins to unravel. In the summer of 1963, he is sent to a remote home for boys near a contested border — a place governed by labor, fear, and informal hierarchies. There, besides his blind childhood friend Damir, Niki encounters a volatile mix of friendships and threats: Apollo and Elias, boys from his past who carry old violence forward; Marko, the lone German orphan dreaming of escape; and Magda, a sensual magnetic young woman who runs the institutions’ finances and sets its rules.
As Niki’s unusual aptitude begins to draw attention, protection becomes dangerous. A failed attempt to break free leaves lasting consequences — emotional and practical, and pushes him beyond the narrow safety he understands. He briefly enters an unfamiliar world of sound, images, and possibility — American music, contraband culture, and overwhelming sensory freedom — before being pulled back under control.
Niki is drawn deeper into structures that value his usefulness while keeping his past sealed. At the same time, fragments of memory begin to surface: a village, a language, a life that existed before displacement. As pressure mounts and trust erodes, Niki leaves again, moving across borders without certainty or permission.
His journey returns him to Macedonia, where a City and a System collapse under devastating forces surrounding him. In the aftermath, Niki is finally confronted with the truth about his origins and the cost of survival.
Broj is a coming-of-age story about displacement and recognition — where identity is not discovered, but reclaimed slowly, through loss, restraint, and the courage to remain visible when safety disappears.
Themes
Identity
Displacement
Genius
War & Childhood
Visual Moodboard
Cast of Characters
Broj People
Niki
A genius but traumatized Macedonian teen displaced twice by war. Neurodivergent, obsessive, awkward, struggling to understand his identity.
Damir
Blind, musical, gentle, southern Balkans background. Niki’s grounding force and emotional mirror. Holds fragments of Niki’s forgotten past.
MAGDA
A magnetic young woman who runs the orphanages and orphans. Smart, seductive, and dangerous — yet deeply human.
Yuri
A Soviet–Polish official. Charismatic, calculating, fatherly when beneficial, always withholding something. Sees Niki as both a son and a tool.
Olga
Grounded and resilient, carrying loss with quiet strength, protecting what remains of family and belonging in an unforgiving world.
APOLLO
Ethnically Greek, was swept up in Greece's chaotic war. A bully shaped by violence and insecurity. Brutal on the outside, fractured on the inside.
ELIAS
Niki’s conflicted peer — torn between loyalty and morality. He knows the past that Niki can’t remember and envies his prodigious intelligence.
MARKO
Attracted by the west life, an escape artist, a peer who understands Niki’s brilliance — showing an interest that goes beyond friendship.
Travis
An observant American outsider, he's pulled between curiosity, imposter syndrome, and the desire to succeed, while settling old scores.
GEORGIE
Young American spy. Naive but stubbornly ambitious, opportunistic, charming and dangerous in her good intentions.
Sasha
Controlled, strategic, and emotionally opaque — someone who understands power as a system and survives by staying one step ahead of it.
Ilya
A hardened guerrilla commander, disciplined, pragmatic, and shaped by conflict, carrying a rigid sense of order forged in war.
Creative Vision
Broj is a film about a name — the loss of it, the theft of it, and the lifelong journey to reclaim it.
Growing up with stories of displaced Macedonian children, I learned that identity is not simply inherited; it is negotiated, stolen, erased, repurposed, and sometimes violently reclaimed. These children survived not only war, but an entire bureaucracy engineered to strip them of language, culture, and memory.
This film does not attempt to recreate history — it attempts to restore humanity to a generation erased from records.
Niki’s mind is mathematical, but his heart is fractured. Through him, we see borders shift, alliances break, addictions form, and genius emerge in the least forgiving environment. His life becomes a map of vectors — each pointing toward a self that was always forbidden.
As Niki tries to solve the ciphers of governments and childhood trauma, he realizes the greatest code he must break is his own identity.
This is a story of survival, not as a heroic act, but as a reclamation of truth in a world built on lies.
History
The Forgotten Displacement
Understanding the historical context of Macedonian displacement in the shadow of the Cold War.
Historical Context
Between 1946 and 1949, the Greek Civil War forced over 28,000 Macedonian children to flee across borders into Communist Eastern Bloc countries. Many were separated from parents, renamed, reclassified, and absorbed into socialist orphanage systems.
Timeline
1946-1949
Greek Civil War & The Child Refugees
28,000 Macedonian children are taken or forced to flee. Names erased. Identities rewritten. This is where Niki’s story begins — a boy without a last name.
1963
System Collapse & Second Displacement
The Soviet refugee program runs out of steam; they've served their purpose. Children are transferred, abandoned, or reclassified. Niki is displaced again — sent to Zgorzelec, on the contested Polish-German border.
1950s
Life in Socialist Orphanages
Refugee children are raised across the Eastern Bloc.Educated, disciplined — but never truly “from” anywhere.Identity becomes an administrative decision.
1967
New Coups, Old Patterns
Another political storm approaches Greece.The forces that erased Niki’s identity are still at work.He cannot stop history — but he can choose who he becomes.
TEAM
Production Team
The creative minds bringing this story to life*
Stefo Milankov
Executive Producer / Writer
Stefo (Steve) Milankov, embarking in Film School in New York City, is a veteran of writing and stewardship from his 25-year career in Corporate Law. An on-going investor in Broadway Theater, Mr. Milankov is building on his storytelling experience in the medium of film through historical fiction.
Daniel Diaz
Creative PRoducer
Daniel (Danipotter) a Colombian creative producer, brings a decade of storytelling vision into filmmaking. Drawing from years of narrative work across interdisciplinary creative fields, he now focuses on developing historically rooted, character-driven cinema. Broj marks his debut project as a producer of historical fiction.
*Legal: the creative team operates strictly as independent contractors/artists and not as a partnership. No inference is to be taken from the discussions had with the creative team unless in writing. All intellectual property is owned by Square Root Milankov Film and Theatrical LLC.
Join Our Journey
Be the first to receive updates on production, behind-the-scenes, and festival screenings.
We respect your privacy. No spam — ever.
Professional inquiries welcome. Representation preferred for casting and key creatives.
BROj
A feature film about genius, displacement, and identity in Cold War Eastern Europe.
Quick Links
Resources
Contact: dani@brojfilm.com