When The Phone Rang

The telephone rings eleven times in the film. One of these calls in 1992 is made to eleven-year-old Lana, the director's alter ego. It informs the girl of the death of her grandmother and the beginning of the bloody war as Yugoslavia collapses. Lana's country is instantly wiped off the map, along with the girl's identity and history. Traces of the past remain only in literature, cinema and the memories of the generation born before 1995. The film, which received a special mention in Locarno, is based on the director's personal experiences when she left her native Yugoslavia in 1990.