DESCRIPTION
Set in the remote village of Gandzani in southern Georgia, near the Armenian border, A Fire There explores youth coming of age amid uncertainty and change. The village, home to an ethnic Armenian community where echoes of exile and Soviet nostalgia still linger, frames the lives of three teenagers negotiating the tension between inherited traditions and the desire for something new. Henrikh, restless and ambitious, dreams of leaving for Tbilisi to study International Affairs. Karlen, weighed down by family obligations, considers migrant work as his path to independence. Hagop, more rooted in tradition, seeks a meaningful place within the village while quietly questioning its unspoken codes and patriarchal expectations. Against rigid gender roles, social limits, and geopolitical instability, the film offers an intimate and immersive portrait of a generation imagining a future beyond their isolated world.
News & reviews
Acquisition news | Variety: ‘A Fire There’ Boarded by Filmotor Ahead of Visions du Réel Premiere
Trailer release | Screen Daily: ‘A Fire There’: first trailer for Visions du Réel, Hot Docs title set in Georgia | News | Screen
Interview | Business Doc Europe: Visions du Réel Int’l Comp: A Fire There by Marlene Edoyan – Business Doc Europe
POV | Review: “A Fire There resembles a scripted film on the surface, but it hews closer to vérité in its construction and design.” A Fire There Review: On Open Mountains Sweet and Far – POV Magazine
In the Seats | Review: Hot Docs 2026: Our Review of ‘A Fire There’ – In The SeatsIn The Seats
VERDICT: Doc-maker Marlene Edoyan brings a sensitive and poetic, observational eye to Armenian dreams of past and future on the Georgian border. The Film Verdict
FIPRESCI: A Fire There: Between Home and Elsewhere – FIPRESCI | The International Federation of Film Critics: “A Fire There becomes not only a sensitive portrait of a particular community but also a quietly universal meditation on belonging, masculinity, and the many forms that home can take.”