SEARCH FOR KHUBADY

Documentary, Experimental, Short, Student,

Switzerland

2024

Runtime, min

At the heart of the film is the search for the Ossetian folk song "Khubady" and the fading memories associated with it, particularly in the regions of Georgia and South Ossetia. In February 2024, Keyhani, accompanied by a small film crew, visited the Georgian cities of Tbilisi, Tserovani, Ninigori, and Lagodekhi to find people who still remember this folk song. The uprooting and the longing to one day be able to "return" link the protagonists of the film to Keyhani’s own story, as well as to her family and the formative experiences of her childhood. These are memories that begin to fade, and languages that are no longer spoken. However, the film offers a hopeful look into the future, as the search itself becomes the central theme. "Search for Khubady" challenges the significance of borders and suggests that borders tend to erode identities rather than protect them. The film invites the audience to reflect on the tension between homeland, belonging, and an increasingly interconnected world.

Director:

Lale Keyhani

Selections and Awards:

REVIEWS:

Incredible how the film uses silence, distance, and everyday details to build meaning. It’s not a historical doc - it’s a living archive. The fact that so many don’t speak the language anymore makes the final performance feel like a miracle.

Álvaro Lucas

A heartfelt, warm, and pleasant film. About true values and the universal language of creativity — music, song, and dance that unite cultures, peoples, and countries. Thank you!

Live Screenings Attendee

Watching this reminded me of my grandmother’s voice - songs she sang in a language I never learned. I cried for something I never had, but somehow missed. This film gave shape to that feeling.

Rebecca Sousa

A meditative act of resistance. By searching for a song, the film challenges geopolitical erasure. Its political message is subtle but potent: memory cannot be fenced off. Culture leaks through borders like water through fingers.

Jorge Gomez Perez

At first I thought it was just a story about a song. But by the end I felt like I’d been on a journey - with real people, real places, real emotions. That moment when they finally sing ‘Khubady’? Gave me chills.

Caleb Dubois

I was in tears. Not because of anything dramatic - but because of the quiet sadness of lost voices, and the beauty of people still trying to remember. When someone said 'Your place is empty'… that hit me deeply.

Luca Ochoa

This is cinema as cultural memory work. The search for the song becomes a vehicle for a broader meditation: How do we inherit the fragments of lost identities? The layering of travel, interviews, and poetic voiceover was masterfully balanced.

Humberto Vázquez