MEMORY

Synopsis

After her parents’ divorce, six-year-old Vladlena moves from Crimea to Grozny, not yet aware of the changes that lie ahead. When war breaks out in Chechnya, it deeply affects her city and family. Years later, filmmaker Sandu reflects on her childhood in this poetic, autobiographical hybrid film, exploring how cycles of violence shape children – and how healing and change are possible.

Statement of the director

I was born in the USSR and grew up witnessing the collapse of an empire. Soon after, I experienced the war in the Chechen Republic. When the conflict began, I was only twelve years old, and I spent four years living through it. My mother was injured, and many of my friends and relatives were killed. Violence begets violence, circulating across generations, creating a closed loop that continues to perpetuate itself. Adults teach children to kill, to divide, to hate — and yet, how can one break free from this cycle? How can this be stopped? MEMORY is my attempt to confront these questions. It is an exploration of inherited trauma, of the ways in which war imprints itself on the body and the psyche, and of the struggle to reclaim humanity amid the aftermath of collective violence. Through this film, I seek to understand how the cycle of violence can be interrupted — and whether it is even possible to truly escape it. Despite everything, I continue to believe that art can play a role in recovery. That it can help us imagine a future shaped by choice rather than coercion.