In   January 2011, I read a news report about a price hike caused by a leading road freight company operating on the Yerevan-Istanbul route over Georgia. The dispute reflected in prices in Armenia. Traders and bus companies were worried the continued price increase could affect business.​

 

According to the report, Armenian shuttle traders transport goods to Istanbul on buses owned by nearly twenty Turkish bus companies on a 36-hour route over Georgia due to the closed border between Turkey and Armenia. They purchase goods in Istanbul to bring back to Armenia, for which they then arrange cargo truck transport in Istanbul before they return home via the passenger buses.​

 

Reading this report got me thinking about how “officially” politics and regulations didn’t let people cross borders, but “unofficially” let them do it through indirect ways and even have trade; as long as it is kept unregulated. Ambiguousness is the core foundation of manipulation: when rights and freedom are not officially guaranteed with laws and regulations, the lives of people depend on the good will of the ones with power.

 

Then, I went back to my own memories of childhood about a grandfather coming to visit from Germany with gifts that seemed so exciting and different, about an u ncle coming to visit with stories about different places, which made me want to run away with him to those places, on big adventures… I even tried to run away from home at the age of four.

 

Through the character of Ziazan, I want to express the contrast between the deceit of politics and the unteinted mind of a child. In my film, I want to look at the world through the eyes of a little child, to create a tale-like cinematographic environment, where it is possible to follow your imagination, even to cross closed borders.