When the Phone Rang (2024, dir. Iva Radivojević) | a film screening and discussion

Film Synopsis - When the Phone Rang

Memories of ex-Yugoslavia meet autofiction in a critically acclaimed film about an 11-year-old girl who receives a series of mysterious phone calls that change her life. Through the intimate reconstruction of these events, When The Phone Rang investigates dislocation and the nature of remembering. In the protagonist’s mind the phone call erases her entire country, history and identity. Writer Dubravka Ugresic notes that memories appear as if from a dream, returning to haunt the present. The aim of this film is to give these memories a container, all the while inviting witnesses.

About the Director

Iva Radivojević spent her early years in Yugoslavia, Cyprus, and eventually NYC. An artist and filmmaker who divides her time between Athens and Lesbos, Iva has screened works at NYFF, ND/NF, CPH:DOX, MoMA, on ARTE and commissioned by Field of Vision. She is the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim, Jerome, NYFA, Sundance Art of Non-Fiction, and Princess Grace. Her art book Avenue of the Living was recently published by Big Black Mountain Press. Her work presents itself as a collection of fragments that collage together to connect into a ruminating whole, circling around dislocation, migration, and belonging, seeking to connect to the metaphysical or the magical.

Discussion

Please join us for a screening and conversation with: filmmaker Iva Radivojević, attending in person; political scientist Ljubomir Filipović; artist and cultural producer Alma Telibecirevic; and filmmaker and producer Alex Ma. The discussion will be moderated by Melikian Center affiliates Luiza Parvu and Toma Peiu of the Poitier Film School.