Vodka Lemon

a film by Hiner Saleem
France/Italy/Switzerland/Armenia 2003, 35mm, 102′, o.v. Armenian, French, Italian

Festivals & Prizes

Festival international du film asiatique of Vesoul – Golden Cyclo Award and Langues’O Award, Vesoul 2004
Festival de Mons – Grand Prix and two unofficial Awards, Mons 2004
Toronto Film Festival, Toronto 2003
Venice International Film Festival, Competition Controcorrente – Best film, Venice 2003
16. Castellinaria.Festival internazionale del cinema giovane Bellinzona

Synopsis:

We are in the Kurdish villages of Caucasus. Hamo is a sixty-something retired red army officer. Widower, he only has left an old red armoire, a soviet television, his military suit and a seven dollar monthly pension for sole possessions. Every day Hamo goes to the cemetery and brushes the snow off the portrait on his wife’s tomb. A little bit further, Nina, a beautiful fifty year old widow, brushes the snow off her husband’s grave.
In the old bus bringing them back to their villages, they are sitting only three rows apart. Hamo looks at Nina. She glances back. The landscape outside the window is totally white except for the stones from this country.
When Hamo returns to his village, a letter from one of his son living in Paris is waiting for him. The village is buzzing; ” the envelope must be filled with 100 dollar bills! ” But Hamo’s thoughts are set on the beautiful stranger from the cemetery…