The investigators get caught up in a host of dreadful secrets and are in danger themselves. Based on one Chechen family, the film depicts the horrors of the war after the withdrawal of the Russians.
"They don't know where their loved ones are, or whether they are even alive. The title of the film translates as the land between life and death. A mother of a missing man says: 'I do not have my son either in life or in death.' To me, this is barzakh, neither life nor death. It is a void, an absence," the film director said.
Kvedaravicius was born in Birzai, Lithuania in 1976. He holds a Master's Degree in cultural anthropology from the University of Oxford and is currently completing his PhD dissertation and a book manuscript on the affects of pain at the University of Cambridge.
Barzakh was produced by the Finnish production company Sputnik Oy, managing producer Aki Kaurismäki and the Lithuanian film company Extimacy Films.
Barzakh received funding from YLE TV2 Documentaries (tv2 .yle.fi), Iikka Vehkalahti; Finnish Film Foundation (www.ses.fi), Film Commissioner Miia Haavisto.
The film's budget is €140,000 .
Credits:
Director: Mantas Kvedaravicius
Screenplay: Mantas Kvedaravicius
Producers: Aki Kaurismäki, Mantas Kvedaravicius
Cinematography: Mantas Kvedaravicius
Additional cinematography: Ahmed Gisaev, Zarema Mukusheva
Sound: Tero Malmberg
Editor: Mantas Kvedaravicius
Editing consultant: Timo Linnasalo, Giedrius Zubavicius
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