Set in a war torn Chechen city, this documentary about a missing man, his family, and neighbors premiered at Berlin. Unfolding over the years between 2006 and 2009, [Barzakh] is about those who disappeared after being taken away by the army under the pretext of the so-called war on terrorism. This film’s loyalty to the storyline itself is strongly emphasized by the detailed production, evidenced best in the sequences that visit an old prison full of the reminders of torture. The silent scenes and the tone of suspended time, as the wait for the missing family continues, creep in with a sadness that touches the heart. The interior scenes and still shots make the air of stagnation more real. Barzakh is a moment of stillness as well as a moment of boundary. The missing people are standing on the borderline between life and death, as are their families. Once one enters into Barzakh, it’s impossible to come out. Which is also the fate of the over 6,000 that went missing in Chechnya. (RHEE, Soue-won)