The Divided City of Mitrovica

synopsis

Twenty-five years have passed since the war in Kosovo, yet Mitrovica’s Albanian majority and Serbian minority still do not speak to one another. The ruins of houses left unrepaired since the war, decadent poems about dying mothers and isolated young figures rooted in a landscape frozen by conflict speak of the past and of silence. Yet a blossoming cherry tree insistently grows through this hushed emptiness, its growth a subversive defiance of history’s course and human will, its scent intoxicating in the lyrical sunset. But history does not end in kitsch: the image breaks apart into a jumble of pixels until it loses all meaning. The void will only be filled by the future, which brings new meanings.

“The main obstacle while filming was the lack of trust between the communities, which he [Marko Grba Singh] eventually used to his advantage because, he explained, ‘the film is about the lack of communication’.”
— Xhorxhina Bami, Balkan Insight

biography

Marko Grba Singh (1988) was born in Belgrade, where he studied film directing. His work shifts between documentary and fiction, experimenting with cinematic language and exploring dreams, memory and nostalgia. He made his debut with the short film At Least We’ve Met (2012). His Abdul & Hamza (2015) screened at Ji.hlava IDFF, and Rampant (2021) is his feature-length debut.

film details

director:	Marko Grba Singh
cast:	Snežana Džogović, Blendi Kabashaj
producer:	Jelena Angelovski
script:	Marko Grba Singh
editing:	Mina Simendić
sound design:	Luka Barajević

contact

Jelena Angelovski / Obol Film lenka.angelovski@gmail.com