The daily rituals of mother and daughter. Slavka, who suffers from insomnia, takes care of her mother, Milusa. The combing of hair, the starting of the fire, the stumbling out of bed and the breakfast with a tiny knife chiming against a ceramic plate. In the workshop where her late husband once busied himself, Slavka feels an unshakable weight – no chatter, no sudden sounds. Everything repeats itself in a melancholic rhythm, and within their togetherness, there’s an indescribable tenderness.

After his grandfather’s death, Bujisic sensed a change in his relationship with his grandmother, Slavka, the protagonist of this short documentary. They have never openly addressed the loss, yet its presence is reflected in the order and routine Slavka has created for herself and lives out each day. This powerful work of observational cinema, a counterpoint to the Maysles brothers’ emblematic Grey Gardens (1975), wraps its subject in a tender embrace, conveying care and intimacy. Bujisic studied film, media and directing, and this documentary short was created during his master’s studies at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts at the University of Montenegro in Cetinje.