EMBERS

After the death of her beloved grandmother the filmmaker Tamara Stepanyan returns to Armenia, her former home, in order to look for the traces of the woman after whom she was named. She meets up with the surviving members of her grandmother’s circle of friends, and tries to find out more about those who are no longer present. A defining influence on Tamara’s life was the Second World War: her service in the army, the loss of so many comrades. Until Tamara’s death in 2008, the friends met up every year on the 9th of May to celebrate Victory Day, the anniversary of Germany’s capitulation. The tradition was important to them, but the few remaining members of the group have fled into the past to escape from the present they no longer cope with. What unites them is a deep bond with one another, the shared grief for the loved ones they have lost, the nostalgic memories of times which have gone for good. Tamara Stepanyan’s shows a moving dialogue between two generations that explores the past and the present at the same time.