LOOK, STRANGER

Set in the remote forests and mountains of the Caucasus, LOOK, STRANGER tells the story of a woman traveling from a refugee camp to her abandoned family home. She travels with a nameless orphan, a blind boy, to whom she alternately expresses both resentment and affection.

Having agreed to deliver a mysterious red bag to rebels deep in the mountains in exchange for protection and an escort, things begin to go very wrong for the woman and boy when their guide is killed on the road in an arbitrary act of violence. They are then forced to rely on an angry and disillusioned mercenary, who agrees to take them halfway home for money.

On their journey, the man, woman and boy must confront brutal soldiers, hidden landmines, and corrupt rebels. In the midst of their hardship, they develop a cautious and fragile friendship. Frightened, guarded, and damaged, but also longing to believe in something, the three form an accidental family. Their newfound bond, desire, and the boy’s burgeoning happiness remedy some of the loneliness of their bleak world on the road. Death is everywhere. Is there hope?


LOOK, STRANGER is a sponsored project of the New York Foundation for the Arts.