Anduni - Fremde Heimat (2011)

Belinda, a student and the daughter of an Armenian family in Cologne, is trying to escape her close-knit cultural environment. As she tries to build a future with her German boyfriend, Manuel, her alcoholic father, Haigan, dies. His death reopens old wounds and brings the scattered relatives together. For Belinda, this means not only dealing with practical matters—such as applying for a pension for her mother, Margrit, who speaks little German—but also confronting her family’s expectations. Her forceful aunt Arsine urges her to work in her tailoring shop and look after her mother, while efforts are also made to set Belinda up with someone from the Armenian community. The pressure strains her relationship with Manuel, whom Belinda has never introduced to her parents. When he gets a place at university in Halle, she refuses to have a long-distance relationship. Belinda finds support in her uncle Levon. She travels to Armenia with him and Aunt Arsine. The capital, Yerevan, feels unfamiliar to her, but in the country’s mountains she experiences, for the first time, a connection to her parents’ homeland. When Manuel picks up a pair of trousers from Arsine’s tailoring shop, he learns that Belinda has gone to Armenia to marry a man.