Sound Before Sound (13’01’’), created in collaboration with Branislav Stevanović, is an experimental ethnographic film that examines the sonic landscape of fiddling traditions. Moving away from conventional ethnomusicological approaches, such as interviews or staged performance documentation, the film adopts the soundscape as its primary mode of inquiry.

Filmed and composed through a combination of scientific observation and experimental audiovisual methods, the work focuses on what is often overlooked: the interstitial sounds that exist between structured music and environmental noise. What we hear are the processes of instrument-making itself, the cutting and sanding of wood, the carving of lines, the rhythmic operations of machines used in shaping it. These sounds are not positioned as background, but as integral to the practice of sound-making, documenting the labor and material transformations that precede performance.

By foregrounding these processes, the film challenges conventional distinctions between music and noise and expands the ethnographic field of listening. Sound Before Sound demonstrates that tradition is not confined to the final act of performance but is also embedded in the preparatory gestures, environments, and acoustic residues that surround it.

The film was included in the official selection of the 69th Martovski Festival – Belgrade Documentary and Short Film Festival, in the category of documentary films up to 50 minutes.