by Alex Billington
April 20, 2026
Source: YouTube
“Everything before you is bright, and yet you’re sad.” Screen Daily has revealed the first official trailer for an indie documentary film titled A Fire There, from director Marlene Edoyan, which is premiering soon at the 2026 Visions du Réel Film Festival in Switzerland this spring before stopping by Hot Docs in Canada after. This is a compelling story of three young men who all live in a remote Armenian village in southern Georgia navigating tensions between inherited traditions and their desire to shape their own futures. This very cinematically poetic and intimate film is about not only the lives of young men today, but about life in a remote area of the world most of us have never been to or even heard of before. “Between life in the present and visions of the future, between traditions, beliefs and family ties, three life stories remain to be dreamed and written, rendered through a keen sense of visual composition and skillful editing, somewhere between documentary and visual poetry.” I’m always intrigued by beautifully-made docs like this one – worth a look.
Here’s the first promo trailer (+ poster) for Marlene Edoyan’s doc A Fire There, direct from YouTube:
A Fire There is set in the remote southern Georgian village of Gandzani, near the border with Armenia. In an isolated village in the high plains of southern Georgia, three lifelong friends from within the Armenian community discuss their future. Torn between family expectations and personal desires, tradition and change, and facing economic and geopolitical uncertainty, here are three life stories that remain to be dreamed and written, somewhere between a documentary and a visual poem. A Fire There is directed by international doc filmmaker Marlene Edoyan, director of the films Figure d’armen previously and other doc projects. Produced by Dominique Dussault for Nemesis Films and Marlene Edoyan. This is premiering at the 2026 Visions du Réel Film Festival in Switzerland this spring in their intl. competition. It will also premiere at Hot Docs in Canada next this year. No other release dates are set – stay tuned. Look any good?
