101 minutes / Color
English; Russian / English subtitles
Closed Captioned
Release: 2026
Copyright: 2025
COMING SOON
Set in the mountainous borderlands between the warring nations of Azerbaijan and Armenia, the story follows Rena Effendi, a photographer in pursuit of Satyrus effendi, a rare and critically endangered butterfly named in honor of her father, an enigmatic Soviet entomologist who was absent from her life.
He died in 1991, when Rena was just fourteen, amid war and the collapse of the USSR. Rena retraces his old butterfly-hunting routes through what is now a devastated landscape, deep into a remote Caucasus exclave isolated by decades of conflict. The butterfly is known to appear there only once a year, fluttering high over militarized border that people are forbidden to cross. On this journey of discovery in Searching for Satyrus, Rena comes closer to her father, confronting the distance between them and coming to terms with his troubled legacy.
“A butterfly hunt makes an unlikely subject for a prize-winning documentary, but Searching for Satyrus is a gripping quest that reveals a remarkable part of the world little known to western audiences.” —The Guardian
“Searching for Satyrus is a wonderful piece of documentary filmmaking that conveys beauty, memory and conflict between nations. It's a quietly beautiful and incredibly nuanced depiction of an individual coming to terms with their grief and taking life one step at a time to find closure in their family’s past.” —UK Film Review
Select Accolades
Director Marcia Tambutti Allende seeks to understand the man behind the legend that was her grandfather, Salvador Allende.
Marcia Tambutti Allende | 2016 | 98 minutes | Color | English; Spanish | English subtitles
A filmmaker interviews his grandparents about their experience of Belgian colonialism.
Alain Kassanda | 2023 | 89 minutes | Color | Lingala; French | English subtitles
The filmmaker reflects on her great-grandfather, who was a revolutionary general and then president of Mexico.
Natalia Almada | 2009 | 83 minutes | Color | Spanish | English subtitles
