Memory

Director: Vladlena Sandu

Cast: Vladlena Sandu

A haunting blend of documentary and dream, Vladlena Sandu’s film recalls growing up during wartime.

Born in Crimea and raised in war-torn Chechnya, director Vladlena Sandu looks back at her past through fragments: family secrets, rumours, and the stories no one was allowed to tell. Using reconstructions and evocative, poetic imagery that recalls a childhood growing up in the Soviet Union, Memory is as much a personal reckoning as it is an ode to all children who grow up under siege, trying to find a language for the violence, destruction and war around them. For her feature-length debut,  Sandu collected memories from her friends, as well as her own, to create a film that is as confronting as it is healing to watch. (ANNA BOGUTSKAYA)