For Azaa and Shagai, the search for a new home is little more than a diversion from an impending divorce. Trapped in the infernal traffic of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s bustling capital, their argument comes alive.
Like other Asian metropolises, Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, is a dynamic hub of economic and political growth, driven by the intense exodus of the country’s rural population. In the midst of this city expanding both vertically and horizontally – with its tall buildings, chaotic traffic, and densely populated outskirts – we follow Azaa and Shagai, a young couple with a daughter, as they search for a home and try to rebuild their life – and their relationship. Between new and uninhabited apartments, demanding career paths, and emotional wounds from the past, tensions build under the weight of urban life and each person’s existential emptiness.
And even so, at the very epicenter of the city’s frenzy, we glimpse brief moments of intimacy and reconciliation. A hug in the car, in the middle of traffic, symbolizes the possibility of rediscovering one another, of the love that can still exist amid the noise, responsibilities, and haste of daily life. A South Facing Window offers a sensitive portrait of the ongoing tension between family bonds and the pressures of modern life, revealing in each individual the search for identity, meaning, and connection in a world that does not wait for us. (Jéssica Pestana)
