After the death of their beloved son Vardan, who served as a soldier in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Rose and her husband Aksel come to a complex decision in order to keep the memory of the young man alive. Their teenage daughter endures the same grief, but in a completely different way.

A woman extricates herself from a hole at the beginning of  this piece: a scene akin to birth, in a film where death and sorrow linger, and one of the many striking images in a narration that moves at a dreamlike pace. The title – The Light of Nature – inspired by the 15th century philosopher and alchemist Paracelsus, suggests symbols and mysteries to decipher. The film shines indeed, as if a glow seems to come through unseen cracks. It also can be read through a study of personal loss – as a sly, more grounded questioning of manhood and patriarchy.