Marseille, 2014. Dozens of Armenian asylum seekers trying to survive while waiting for their application to be considered. They left behind them a country whose people have settled around the world for over a hundred years ... A country all described as desert, abandoned by its inhabitants, emptied of its life.
Forced stillness, impotence, they live in an in-between space: between two countries, between two lives. In a time and abstract space, made of nothing, where their life escapes them completely. By the shore, they float in limbo.
Tamara Stepanyan was born in Armenia. During the breakdown of the Soviet Union in the early 90’s, she moved to Lebanon. After studying and working in Lebanon, Tamara pursued her studies at The National Film School of Denmark under the supervision of Arne Bro. “Embers” is the first feature documentary of Tamara that has won the Best Documentary Award at Busan International Film Festival in South Korea.
For 11 years now, she has been working and living in France where she has already made two feature documentaries “Those from the Shore” and “Village of Women”. Her films have won prestigious awards around the world, Best Documentary at Busan International Film Festival, Best Director at Boston, Best Film at Amiens in France, and some more. Right now she is in preparation for two new films.
Stepanyan made a number of films that were shown and primed in prestigious festivals like Locarno, Busan, La Rochelle, Boston, Leipzig, Amiens. Stepanyan teaches film at 2 high schools in Paris.