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2K Flat | 5.1| Dolby
in select Cinemas 2026
Genre: Feature Documentary
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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.
Searching For Satyrus - Official Trailer
Director:
RENA EFFENDI
Main Cast:
RENA EFFENDI, ELMIRA ABBASOVA, PAVLIK
KAZARYAN, DMITRII MORGUN
Producers:
RENA EFFENDI, LANA SLEZIC, MATT FLETCHER
Executive Producer:
FRANK GIUSTRA
Editor:
MAHI RAHGOZAR
Music:
LJOVA
Director of Photography:
MIKHAIL GALUSTOV, EVGENY RODIN
Natural History DOP:
GARATH WHYTE
Post Production:
ROLLING PICTURES
Funded by:
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY
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Director’s Statement
Searching for Satyrus
This film is part family drama, part war story, and part a
portrait of obsession with some of the most beautiful and
fragile creatures in the natural world.
I hardly knew my father, a dissident Soviet entomologist who devoted his life to studying butterflies. When he died in 1991, he left behind a fractured legacy, three daughters from several broken marriages and thousands of preserved butterflies slowly turning to dust in glass boxes. Decades later, with camera and butterfly net in hand, I set out to find Satyrus effendi, a rare and elusive species named after him.
This endangered, endemic butterfly is found in only one place—it flies across the hostile mountainous border between my homeland, Azerbaijan, and its neighbor and long-time rival, Armenia. Three decades of conflict over the disputed region of Nagorno - Karabakh have leveled towns, scattered families, and seeded the frontier with trenches and landmines, destroying trust between
the two nations.
As I retrace my father’s footsteps, seeking to understand both him and his lifelong passion for butterflies, I am helped by people on both sides of the border, people who still officially consider each other enemies. What motivates my journey is not only a search for my father along with a species on the brink of extinction, but also a longing for peace and reconciliation.
Through this quest, I hope to show that humanity can prevail even in places ravaged by war. The film traverses a physical landscape, but also the emotional and political ones. My efforts to bring Armenians and Azerbaijanis together in the search for the butterfly mirror the fragile possibility of unity in a region long divided by violence and traumas of war.
In a time when conflicts continue to rage between neighbors across the world, Searching for Satyrus offers a meditation on legacy, loss, and the healing power of nature, reminding us that the bonds of family and the natural world can transcend political and human-made borders.
Director’s BIO:
With over two decades in journalism and documentary photography, Rena Effendi is a world class storyteller renowned for her humanistic lens. Her photography has been described as having a deep sense of empathy with a quiet celebration of the strength of the human spirit. She is the laureate of the Prince Claus Fund award for Culture and Development and has been shortlisted
for the prestigious Prix Pictet award in Photography and Sustainability.
Effendi presented at the World Economic Forum in Davos twice and is a member of its Cultural Leadership network. Her work has been exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Saatchi Gallery, Istanbul Modern, Venice Biennial and NYC MOMA. Rena Effendi is a National Geographic Explorer and a frequent contributor to the National Geographic Magazine.
Effendi’s experimental documentary short Spirit Lake premiered at Doc Fortnight, NYC MoMA’s annual international festival of nonfiction films.
Searching for Satyrus is Effendi’s debute feature, which won Best Documentary Feature award at the Austin Film Festival in 2025.
