GRAMNet Yurik

Yurik is an intimate portrait of an Armenian doctor and his young family who fled their homeland after he witnessed the assassination of the president in 1999. He and his family became separated as they desperately sought an escape route. He arrived in England, destitute and seeking asylum. His wife, Zara, and two young boys ended up in Barcelona, Spain.

Yurik’s story was profiled in a feature article about the plight of asylum seekers, written by Mark Haddon, published in The Observer Magazine in 2008.

The current film tells their story from his point of view through interviews, home movie footage filmed by his wife in Spain and the filming of an eventual reunion, after six years, with his wife in London. His life (and hers) is further complicated by his long-term illness, a deteriorating condition of the liver, Hepatitis C. He has been on a waiting list for a liver transplant for almost two years. The film ends at the point at which she departs for Spain. But the climax to the story leaves many unanswered questions…