Aniko

Anna Maxim's film "Aniko" was born from memory. It is not simply a story about a girl, but a return to childhood - to a time when the world was still opening up through the pages of books, summer silence, and first feelings. Aniko spends her summer vacation in Tavush. There, everything is slow, natural, breathing. Days are filled with details that go unnoticed by adults but constitute an entire world for a child. Aniko loves literature, stories, and this love shapes her inner world. She listens, remembers, feels - not yet understanding that all of this will become part of her identity.

There are no major events in the film. Instead, there are moments - glances, silences, roads, nature, family environment. All of this weaves together so that the viewer doesn't just watch a told story but lives through it. "Aniko" is a film about childhood, but not about nostalgic or idealized childhood - rather about real childhood, with its simplicity and depth.

Anna Maxim made the film with almost no budget, with the help of friends, but it's precisely within these limitations that the film's sincerity was born. This is the director's own childhood story, the language of her memories. She deliberately chose at the beginning of her creative path to speak about childhood - as if trying to preserve that purity before professionalism begins to dictate its rules.

"Aniko" is a quiet, calm film that doesn't try to impress but simply opens itself to the viewer. And it's precisely through this honesty that it has received international recognition - proving that when a story comes from the heart, it reaches everyone.