Lighthouse (film, 2006)

The film is about the war in the Caucasus . In the story, the girl Lena from Moscow goes to a small Caucasian town where she was born. Military operations began there, so she wants to take her grandparents away from this dangerous place. But, having arrived in her native land, she realizes that she does not have the opportunity to return to Moscow, and besides her grandparents refuse to leave their home.

Trains do not go, the way home is cut off, but life goes on. Lena has to learn to live in a war. After all, many peaceful people, her neighbors and friends, despite the sounds of shots, are hiding in their homes, trying to convince themselves that everything is in order. They continue to joke and laugh in conditions that do not have to this at all.

Over time, Lena realizes that this is where her real home is located, and that she must stay here. After all, to run away does not mean escape. The last shots of the film convince the viewer that life does not end in any case, it goes on as usual, and the symbolic children's laughter against the background of the sun's rays once again inspires a timid hope that everything will be fine.

The genre of this picture is drama . The film is about the war, but there are no scenes of bloody battles, this film tells about the lives of ordinary people who, by the will of fate, are forced to survive the war in their homes. About human relationships and broken destinies. This is a hard intellectual picture, once again making you think about the meaning of life.

2006 - Prize of the Union of Armenian Cinematographers (Yerevan Film Festival Golden Apricot 2006 )

• The film's director, Maria Sahakyan, a young graduate from the VGIK experimental workshop, brought her own experiences to the picture. She did not look for the right and the guilty, for her the main enemy is first of all war.

• The film script was written by a young screenwriter Givi Shavgulidze. In his work, he reflected the realities of military conflicts that constantly occur on Georgian soil. The scene is not specifically specified to embody a collective image of inter-ethnic confrontation.

• The main meaning of the picture is reflected in the beautiful scenes showing the destructive influence of war and the beauty of the nature of the Caucasus. The fear of death and the beauty of life in this film are unexpectedly intertwined, striking the viewer's imagination. The film itself was shot in Armenia , and the shots with the refugees were shot in Georgia .

• Official film site