Banu

"At some point," Rafael tells Arzu, "people walk together ... and then their ways part ... each destined to follow the labyrinth of their own inner city ..." Arzu, a young girl growing up in contemporary Azerbaijan, falls in love with Rafael, her piano teacher's son, a veteran of the Karabakh War. Twice her age and unable to escape from the ravages of war, Rafael is forced to live on the edge of a society that sees him as a 'cripple.' Arzu, desperate to escape from the same repressive society which confines women to a strict, narrow path, chooses Rafael over her family and friends - but threatened by Arzu's mother, and guided by the wisdom born out of his own brokenness, Rafael makes the supreme sacrifice of love ...

A modern Azerbaijani woman’s life is non stop all day as she juggles traditional and secular roles, her life subsumed by service for others while rarely getting the respect she deserves. Throughout the film we see how things are changing in progressive Azerbaijan, and how some things don’t change; like her, it is a country at a crossroads of seeming contradictions. This is the story of "a" woman, elements of whom are universal.

Maryam, an immigrant living in the US returns to her small village in Azerbaijan after discovering that her father is alive and residing in a psychiatric facility. She tries to help recover his mind with her memories but the struggle against the disease turns into a fight with her own conscience.