All That Passes By Through a Window That Doesn't Open

When the Soviet Union crumbled, the economic landscape of Eurasia was reduced to rubble. In Azerbaijan, oil reserves are hazardously low - it's estimated the country has only 30 years of oil dependency left. The government decides to reinvest in railways in the hopes of establishing a "new Silk Road" to connect economically depressed nations and bring prosperity. Through breathtaking imagery and deeply vulnerable admissions, filmmaker Martin DiCicco's visually mesmerizing debut feature follows Azerbaijani railway workers laying the tracks for a future that promises glory to a new generation, while across the closed borders in Armenia, a lonely station master waits more than twenty years for the return of the trains to his tracks. Rough and tumble men work, wait and dream, trying to suppress regret and fear by connecting with one another and the dreams of a better future. (Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival)