Over 2 years, I documented my parents and myself waiting to hear about the fate of my brother Soghomon, 21, a musician, who had disappeared in the front line of the brutal 2020 Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) war. I took the phone, turning our grief into a film as an act of escape from the situation and the upcoming news about his death, and as an act of love towards my family and towards all who suffer from wars.

My younger brother Soghomon, 21, a musician, was close to completing his mandatory military service when the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) War broke out on September 27, 2020. Soghomon disappeared in the war zone without a trace on the 7th day. I had never studied filmmaking but the emotions overwhelming my family made me grab my phone and document our daily ordeal. We were just waiting for my brother, I had not planned to make a film. Hope and despair alternated over the 44 days of the War. I filmed my family for another 2 years, as we searched for my lost brother, waited and wavered. In 2021, there was a DNA match with bones found on the battlefield after the war, and in 2022 we finally received the official notice of his death. Soghomon’s remains were coded 1489 – “Body of individual missing in action.” Although bitter, this number provided closure, which many families still lack.