Tape 200: in the Distance of the Persian Gulf

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Edik, the director’s grandfather, falls seriously ill. The strain aggravates his wife Ella’s dementia, and she begins keeping a diary to hold on to events as they slip away. After Edik’s death, Ella is left alone with a lifetime she can barely remember, continuing to write things down so she can know for certain what happened. In the film, the director reads Ella’s diary, her voice gradually becoming an echo of her grandmother’s. It reverberates through empty rooms, filled to the ceiling with traces of a long life together and the love they shared, entering into dialogue with VHS footage and slides from their travels. Images, words, and gaps in memory form a story of love, loss, and memory’s power to hold on to someone after they are gone.

Directed by Anastasia Nikolaenko