Sandbag Dam – BFI Flare 2025

Writer: Tomislav Zajec

Director: Čejen Černić Čanak

Marko, 18 years old, isn’t going to college. Instead, he’ll become a car mechanic and a local arm-wrestling champion. He’s one of the lads and has a girlfriend called Petra. But there’s a storm brewing, and his friend, who mysteriously left the Croatian village a few years back, has just come home for his father’s funeral. With wide-lens close-ups and handheld cameras, the way Čejen Černic Čanak shoots his film is as absorbing as its story.

Despite his machismo, Marko is a decent young man, best seen in his interactions with his younger brother Fićo, who has Down syndrome. As the storm, and the flood that will come with it, approach, Marko reassures him that his rabbits won’t drown. One night, when Fićo can’t sleep, Marko tells him a tale about a young boy whose best friend is a rabbit, but one day this rabbit disappears. It seems a sad story to tell a young frightened lad, but perhaps Marko is gesturing towards real life in the future.

When Marko bumps into his old friend Slaven, he offers him the briefest of condolences for the loss of his father. There’s obviously some history between them, but Čanak reveals little to the audience, choosing to focus instead on the faces of the two men, especially that of Marko’s, confusion, hurt and anger visible but no clue as to why he rebuffs Slaven so abruptly. This minimal aesthetic draws in the viewer to guess what narrative lies behind the close-ups.

Of course, as Sandbag Dam is playing at BFI Flare, the secret that Čanak withholds for so long must be a queer one, but there’s enough intrigue to keep the viewer guessing. Other jeopardies include the oncoming flood as the townspeople build barricades of sandbags along the river and then, also, outside their homes. Marko places bricks under the legs of the kitchen table in case the water levels get too high. But it’s Marko himself that needs shoring up.

Lav Novosel as Marko perfectly captures teenage angst while Andrija Žunac’s Slaven is more shadowy, not giving an inkling of what his new life in Berlin is like. But stealing the film is Leon Grgić who, as Fićo, is endlessly sweet, telling everyone what and when his rabbits eat.

Spare with story but crammed full of detail, Sandbag Dam is one of those few films you wish were longer. Its ambiguous ending leaves you wanting more.

Sandbag Dam is screening at BFI Flare 2025 from 19-30 March.