Mel

The story of how Aurora Mardiganian (1901-94), a survivor of the Armenian genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire (1915-17), became a Hollywood silent film star.

In a decaying Soviet-era retirement home, a vibrant group of elders cling to life by staging Shakespeare. Yet loneliness lingers beyond the theater’s doors, until drama begins to blur with reality.

Once the most celebrated masters of tightrope dancing in Armenia, Zhora (76) and Knyaz (77) are the only surviving performers who can keep this traditional art alive. Longtime bitter rivals, they come together to train the only student of tightrope dancing left in their country. Hovsep, a 16-year-old orphan boy, must decide whether or not to accept the role of the last tightrope dancer in Armenia, in a society that has abandoned both him and this ancient art form.

A group of solitary elderly individuals from Armenia, who have been neglected by the society, unify in an amateur dance troupe and prove during each performance that they still can dream, fall in love, amaze and wonder.