The Stolen Childhood

In 1988 December an earthquake, measuring 6.8 on the surface wave magnitude scale, razed to ground Armenia’s second largest city of Leninakan (now Gyumri) and the town of Spitak together with hundreds of surrounding villages. Twenty-six years later, we see a city (Gyumri) with destroyed buildings as if the earthquake occurred just yesterday. The image of the city is seen through the eyes of a little girl - Nina – who carries a disproportionately large burden of responsibilities that fell to her lot. She carries this burden without complaint - she simply has no time for discontent, and it is the violin that helps her to endure it, the violin that she cherishes, extracting from it the mystery of the soul‘s universe.