Doors 7:30p
Program 8:00p

UnionDocs
352 Onderdonk Ave
Ridgewood, NY

UnionDocs is delighted to come together with Anthology Film Archives to co-present Together, Together With Strangers! This program is presented as a part of our roving international cineclub,  Artistic Differences organized with Programmer Cíntia Gil.

Marko Grba Singh’s films are improbable explorations, with a particular interest in the multiple oniric lines of flight that an image may reveal. Every element is the beginning of a possible mapping of a world existing in between materiality and dream, history and tale, presence and strangeness. The play is limitless, and a hypnotizing tenderness crosses every shot — a serene curiosity towards everything.

This evening will center around a series of short and mid-length works trace the creation of a singular and liberating filmic universe. ABDUL & HAMZA, two immigrants in Serbia, and the phantoms of exile and resistance that seem to appear in glimpses before memory is gone. Being a stranger demands specific forms of attention and play — the sort of adventures that surprise us in TESAURUS and STARS OF GAOMEIGU. Being contemporary to someone else is, somehow, being forever a kind stranger.

Marko Grba Singh will be in attendance for a conversation following the screening. Come through!

Note: RAMPART, his first documentary feature, will be screened on Jan 27 at Anthology Film Archives at 7:30PM.  The film recollects the ghosts and memories of his empty childhood apartment in Belgrade. The family VHS archive from 1998 and 1999 is revisited and resignified, bringing to the present a family life unfolding, marked by traumatic historic events and by their bonds and desires. Get tickets! 

Program

Abdul and Hamza

49 mins, Serbia, 2015

Abdul and Hamza, two Somali immigrants, are hiding in an abandoned house in the mountains near Serbo-Romanian border. Armed with a GPS, they are planning their escape. Some time after they left, Marko returns to the same place with a feeling of anxiety. Sound designers are recording atmosphere of the mountains.

FESTIVALS & AWARDS
Special Mention: First Film Competition -FID Marseille. France (2015)
Special Mention: Between The Seas – Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival. Czechia (2015)
Special Mention: Youth Film Award – ZagrebDox. Croatia (2016)

Dokufest Prizren. Kosovo (2015)
Torino Film Festival. Italy (2015)
Festival of Auteur Cinema. Serbia (2015)
AmDocs Film Festival. USA (2016)

Tesaurus

26 mins, Serbia, Romania, 2020

Tesa is an ordinary house dog, living with her owner Cristi. One day, she will disappear and start projecting images and thoughts of her own. She will become Tesaurus, endemic species of a talking dog.

FESTIVALS & AWARDS
DocLisboa (2020)
Zagreb HRFF (2020)
Belgrade documentary and short film festival (2021) (Best experimental film award)
FEKK Ljubljana (2021)

Stars of Gaomeigu

23 mins, Serbia, China, 2017

At the Gaomeigu observatory, Naxi people observe the sky. The telescope triggers their local legends, both old and new. There is a legend about the Leader who fed his people. There is a story about Sanduo, a folk tale hero from the Middle ages. Today, he is a skater in the big city. Two gods are in love, but a foreigner interferes.

FESTIVALS & AWARDS:
Most Innovative Short Film – Visions du Reel. Switzerland (2017)
Best Experimental Film -Belgrade Short & Documentary Film Festival. Serbia (2018)
Best Directing Award – Belgrade Short & Documentary Film Festival. Serbia (2018)
Hamburg Short Film Festival. Germany (2017)
Dokufest Prizren. Kosovo (2017)
Festival of Auteur Cinema. Serbia (2017)
Kino Otok. Slovenia (2018)

Program Duration: 99 mins

Bios

Marko Grba Singh was born in 1988 in Belgrade. He is currently on PhD studies in Film Directing at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade. His first mid length film “Abdul & Hamza“ (2015) got a Special Mention at FIDMarseille. His short film “Stars of Gaomeigu” (2017) won the Most Innovative Short Film Award at Visions du Reel. He attended the 2017 Cannes Film Festival with a short film “If I Had It My Way I Would Never Leave” in the ACID section. Since 2018 he serves as the Artistic Director of BELDOCS, Belgrade International Documentary Film Festival. He is one of the programmers of Zagreb HR Film Festival. His first feature film “Rampart” (2021) premiered at Locarno Film Festival.