The recent war in Nagorno-Karabakh forced Qnarik Babayan, 62, to move to Armenia, where she must rebuild her life from zero.

The recent war in Nagorno-Karabakh fundamentally changed the life of Qnarik Babayan, 62. Instead of peacefully living out her last years at home, where she had a home and a comfortable life, she was forced to abandon everything and live in a shelter in Armenia. Qnarik worked as a nurse for 40 years in Karabakh and, during the war, she treated many soldiers. Due to her age, she cannot find a job and no one wants to hire her now that she is displaced. With each passing day, Qnarik's hopes for a new life fade a little more. Everyday she wonders how she will be able to care for her daughter and her grandson. The longer she looks for work, the more unlikely it seems she will find a way to look after her family.  

Rakif Ismayilov, 64, is a street artist. His first painting was on a carpet woven by his grandmother. He later graduated from art school.

Ismayilov painted portraits of tourists on Nizami Street (aka Torgovaya), the central shopping street, for four years. His customers were mostly tourists from Arab countries. After the Covid lockdown, tourists disappeared and, as a senior citizen, he was forbidden to leave the house. And so, Rakif was unemployed for 11 months.

Now, he is waiting for the country to reopen and tourists to return to Baku.

An elderly couple in Gali district finds comfort in cherished memories during the harsh reality of the pandemic crisis.

Currently, about 50 families live in the village of Makhunjia, Gali district. The village is on a high mountain and is famous for its citrus plantations. The last house in Makhunjia belongs to Bondo’s family. His wife lost her eyesight when their 29-year-old son died in Abkhazia. Since then, the life of an elderly couple has changed drastically. All their happy memories are in the past. During the pandemic, daily life in the small village became even more difficult.

Observing and documenting events that were strongly influenced by the pandemic in 2020.

Locked up at home and alone, director Maka Gogaladze felt that she was part of something bigger. She realized that her constant fear of an uncertain future was no longer hers alone.With a sense that she returned to her childhood, to the 1990s, Maka feels like she can simply go outside and share all her fears and feelings of insecurity with a stranger. There is no need to go far; it seems that the world around her shrunk in 2020. It has become exactly the same as it was in the past - her whole world is still within walking distance from her front door.

Director's note 

I realized that something dramatically changed about a year ago when I was sitting on a bus and I coughed in my mask. The woman sitting next to me turned her back on me demonstratively. At the first opportunity, she moved further away from me. This was the first time another human was scared of me. 

Soon after that, a whole series of hard experiences began and fear became part of my daily routine. However, handling my own fears is nothing compared to handling someone being afraid of me. It turns out that there was very little I could do about that. This film allowed me to enter that new reality, which was actually just outside my front door. It appeared that I had been ignoring it. I tried hard to break through this wall and rediscover the world I disconnected from many years ago when I missed my chance to explore it in the pool of opportunities.