
Searching for Satyrus - Macrobert Arts Centre
Wed 24 Jun
|Macrobert Arts Centre
Join us for a special screening of Searching for Satyrus, a visually stunning and deeply personal documentary by acclaimed photographer and filmmaker Rena Effendi.


Time & Location
24 Jun 2026, 19:40 – 21:40
Macrobert Arts Centre, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK
About the event
Join us for a special screening of Searching for Satyrus, a visually stunning and deeply personal documentary by acclaimed photographer and filmmaker Rena Effendi.
Following the screening, we will host a live Q&A with director Rena Effendi, offering audiences the opportunity to hear about the making of the film, the story behind the search for the butterfly, and the personal journey that shaped this remarkable documentary.
This exclusive event gives audiences a rare opportunity to experience the film ahead of its theatrical premiere, offering an early look at a powerful and inspiring true story before it arrives in cinemas.

SYNOPSIS
Searching for Satyrus
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, Rena comes closer to her father, confronting the distance between them and coming to terms with his troubled legacy.
Read More about back story
A daughter's epic quest to find one of the rarest butterflies - named after her father
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