Tahmina Rafaella

While the Second Nagorno-Karabakh war rages on far away from Baku, Azerbaijan, Banu has four days to find someone to support her in court against her influential soon to be ex-husband, Javid. He is trying to get full custody of their son Ruslan by claiming that Banu suffers from psychiatric issues. Banu embarks on a journey to find someone to help her in a society in which everyone’s attention is preoccupied with the ongoing war.

While the Second Nagorno-Karabakh war rages on far away from Baku, Azerbaijan, Banu has four days to find someone to support her in court against her influential soon to be ex-husband, Javid. He is trying to get full custody of their son Ruslan by claiming that Banu suffers from psychiatric issues. Banu embarks on a journey to find someone to help her in a society in which everyone’s attention is preoccupied with the ongoing war.

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.

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.

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.

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.

"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 ...

"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 ...