Gyumri

About 25,000 inhabitants of the Armenian town of Gyumri perished in a powerfully destructive earthquake on December 7, 1988. More than one-third of the victims were children. For nearly 20 years, the affected families have been linked in their attempt to come to terms with the loss of their children and the birth of new children. Most of the newly born children bear the names of their deceased brothers and sisters, whom they themselves have never seen. For some parents the new children have become a sort of substitute for the former children. The frequent comparisons with their deceased siblings can evoke an uncomfortable feeling in some of the children. Nevertheless, they continue to believe that the souls of their siblings live on with them, beside them, or directly inside them. The film tells the story of a city, whose bizarre scenery preserves the traditional culture and spiritual memory, which are revealed to us through pictures, stories, and familiar motifs. The documentary Gyumri was filmed in the course of four years. (Verleiher-Text)