The Locarno International Film Festival will take place from August 4th to 14th, 2021, and the documentary film “Rampart” by Marko Grba Sing will be screened out of competition. This one-hour documentary was supported by the Film Center Serbia. The author spends time in an abandoned apartment of his childhood in Belgrade. Memories flood in, idyllic and traumatic. The VHS family archives shows Marko’s world during 1998 and 1999: family gatherings, pets, video games and moments of uncertainty evoke the boy’s life in the whirlpool of historical events.
“After my parents decided to sell the apartment in Belgrade where I grew up, I felt a strong need to document it somehow,” the director explains. “I spent several months in that apartment during 2019, walking through empty rooms, remembering my childhood and filming. I found a box full of VHS tapes containing old cartoons, but also home videos of my family made by my grandfather and my parents. ”
“Among them, I found many important recordings for me: children’s birthday parties, intimate family moments, but also some key events in the history of the Balkans, such as the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 during the war in Kosovo. In this conflict between the present and the past, between empty spaces and things that happened a long time ago, a film was born. Rampart talks about parting, saying goodbye to the place that marked my early years, about healing the traumas of the past. It is also a film about togetherness, about how the family kept us together during difficult times and the way in which one place keeps memories of bygone days. ”
Marko Grba Sing wrote, directed and produced the film. In addition to Grba Singh, the film was directed by: director of photography Ivan Marković, editor Mina Petrović and sound designer Luka Barajević. The executive producer is Jelena Angelovski. The film was produced by Nanslafu Films. Maria Vera (Kino Rebelde) is in charge of rights sales. The world premiere of the film “Rampart” is scheduled for August 9th, 2021, and reruns in Locarno will follow on August 10th (two screenings) and August 11th (one screening).