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Memory

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by Vladlena Sandu

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Six-year-old Vladlena moves from Crimea to Grozny following her parents’ divorce, unaware that war will soon consume her childhood. As the Soviet Union collapses, the Chechen Republic fractures. Her Russian-speaking friends flee while deported Chechens return, reclaiming their homeland. Tensions escalate, and an armed conflict erupts. Violence engulfs the city – neighbors are murdered, her family is targeted, and Grozny becomes a battlefield. After four years of war, her mother is gravely wounded, and an armed attack forces Vladlena to flee, becoming a displaced person in Russia. In this autobiographical poetic hybrid film, Sandu revisits her traumatic childhood memories to confront a haunting question: How can the cycle of violence that shapes children and is passed through generations be broken?

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