"(static buzzing)" "(gentle ringing)" "[Voiceover] Scientists and dreamers." "They travel the world with watchful eyes and guzzled hope like water." "The journey's were separate, but their purpose was common." "To map the world." "One begged for money and pencils." "Another tore his shirt to strips, carefully wrapping his shredded feet." "Yet another thirsty, near starving suckled the sap from plants." "None had an easy road." "Though utterly dependent on one another, most found the others' maps unsettling." "They denied one's perspective by charting the land incomprehensibly, calling into question one's very being." "Still when they met on the lonely roads, the explorers would present one another with their maps." "Some seemed to say so plainly, directly." "The world is like this." "Others were more oblique, skating, impressionistic, unstable." "They froze mere slivers of the infinite earth as it skittered by in orbit." "If ever these maps could be gathered together, they would comprise an atlas of unsettling vision." "A final proof that truth is conjecture." "(light music)" "(murmuring)" "(engine revving)" "(grass shuffling)" "(foreign music)" "(gentle scat music)" "(car honking)" "(speaking in foreign language)" "But in your minion." "Yes." "(speaking in foreign language)" "To all travelers." "And to all over ground." "Oliver Ground." "Oliver Ground." "Yes." "Oliver Ground." "I drink to." "Truth." "I drink, you drink too." "Okay." "[Grey-haired man] Bravo." "Fuck off!" "(speaking in foreign language)" "(door knocking)" "(car engine revving)" "(joyless music)" "(speaking in foreign language)" "[Will] Eggs." "[Voiceover] Hmm." "[Will] Eggs." "(speaking in foreign language)" "Okay." "(speaking in foreign language)" "Come on." "(speaking in foreign language)" "I'm gonna show you." "I'm gonna point." "(speaking in foreign language)" "Do you want anything else?" "Coffee, tea, she'll bring bread and cheese." "Yeah, coffee." "Coffee or tea?" "(speaking in foreign language)" "Coffee, she understands." "So, you're Armenian?" "I grew up in Yerevan." "You know people are going to think you're a spy with all of your maps and photos there." "That's what I am." "You're not discreet." "I make maps." "I work for a satellite mapping company." "And you're American." "Yeah." "Northern California." "Great." "(exhales and clears throat)" "Shit." "It's okay, I can get them." "You don't have to do that." "These are great." "Thanks." "(singing in foreign language)" "(energetic foreign music)" "You can drop me off just here." "Sure, where you stay?" "With my brother." "But I have a new neighbor who just stopped travelling and taking pictures." "So you're the spy." "Takes one to know one." "(energetic music)" "Thanks for the ride, it was nice." "You sure you don't want me to drop you off?" "I could take you." "Yeah, I'm sure." "I wanna walk." "Yeah, yeah." "You know where you're going?" "I do, it's my job." "Yeah, okay, thanks." "Travel safe." "(gentle music)" "[Gadarine] Shit." "(gentle violin music)" "Mr. Shepard." "It's great that you come." "We're so glad that you make." "Yeah, well, thanks." "And how goes work?" "It's good, it's okay, it's getting there." "Good, now I like to make toast." "Our work leads to big project with Armenia country." "(murmuring)" "Come, come here." "Will Shepard, this is Vigram Hacharam." "Hi." "Hey, hello." "I was just doing toast to Mr. Shepard project." "Absolutely." "May we all profit from your work here." "It sounds exciting." "I'll drink to the land." "Mr. Awitsyan, Mr. Shepard, this is Valaria." "Hi." "[Man with red tie] Mr. and Mrs. Harunisyan." "And was it Karina?" "Gadarine (speaks in foreign language)." "Yes, Gadarine is apparently quite an accomplished photographer." "Will Shepard." "Nice to meet you." "Mr. Shepard is working for a company we contract to make new survey for Armenia he maps." "We will use for development, security, many things." "Mr. Shepard also goes to Nigaragarawa so we're including it." "First time we do this since war." "Quite courageous." "Well, I'm not gonna be getting that close to the Eastern border, but I hear it's beautiful and I can't wait to see it." "We will send him with guide, of course." "No, it's okay, no." "I work alone." "It's more efficient." "Yes, but it is disputed territory." "At least the Azerbaijani thinks so." "(laughing)" "Excuse me." "What's the time (murmuring)?" "(chuckling)" "Small world." "Big world, small country." "(gentle music)" "[Gadarine] It was a good drive today." "[Will] It was." "Amenveres said you'll be working in Karabakh." "I've been wanting to shoot there." "[Will] It's pretty." "Yeah." "(gentle music)" "[Voiceover] The life captain travels the land as points of light." "His voyages possess the effortless speed of planetary orbit." "He makes it possible to strip into darkness like slamming a door." "His maps are like snapshots, taken in cruel flashes of light." "There's no room for ambiguity." "The world exists in sharp planes." "Mountains cast no shadows." "Trees stand as still as dead stones." "Sometimes he had with him his daughter, who looked only to the sides and never straight ahead." "She missed the many slashes of land her father captured and froze." "At night around the fire, she drew her own maps like a tunnel." "Sky at the end." "Land down the sides." "To the captain, these were mere simpleton drawings." "She may as well have been screwing clouds into jars." "[Will] Good morning." "Good morning." "One coffee." "(speaking in foreign language)" "One, yeah." "(speaking in foreign language)" "How much?" "Hey." "Hey." "So rough." "Here we are." "[Gadarine] Yeah." "Here we are." "[Will] Are you on a timetable?" "Not really." "I have a few places I wanna try to look at to shoot, but I can work anywhere." "Well, I have an itinerary I have to keep." "I have to stop a lot, hike around, take measurements, it can be slow." "That's fine." "What are you doing exactly?" "Huh?" "Would you, would you please leave that?" "What I'm doing." "What I'm doing is basically I'm trying to pin these images" "to the right places on the ground, over and over again." "[Gadarine] Wow." "That's good." "I mean that's the idea anyway." "Pin that one too." "(gentle music)" "Am I right?" "It's this way, Will." "Yeah we're, we're further along than I thought." "(gentle music)" "The summer time this was a big spot." "My parent's been here for years." "They moved after I went away." "You can turn here." "Turn here?" "[Gadarine] Yeah." "Okay." "You know what, I think I don't wanna do this anymore." "It doesn't feel like the right time." "Oh come on." "Oh shit, stop, Will, stop!" "What, what, what, what, what?" "[Gadarine] My father." "(chuckling)" "I'll drive us up." "No, no, no, okay." "No, I'll go alone." "I won't have to explain, okay." "Meet me here again in an hour." "Is that okay?" "Say something." "A nice start." "(speaking in foreign language)" "Gadarine." "(light guitar music)" "(light guitar music)" "(water flowing)" "(murmuring)" "This is gonna blow your mind, this is us." "That river." "Okay, right there." "(murmuring)" "Watch this." "One, two, ah!" "Okay." "(speaking in foreign language)" "[White-haired man] San Francisco." "San Francisco, this is where I live." "You know, my home, you know, my city, my apartment." "[White-haired man] All of them." "[Will] Yeah, I live right there sometimes." "(speaking in foreign language)" "Armenia." "Armenia." "(laughing)" "Yeah." "(speaking in foreign language)" "[Will] Hey, am I late?" "No, no, no, I left early." "I saw the car." "Was it a good visit?" "Okay, sit down, sit down." "Yeah, no, these guys (murmuring)." "Guys, this is my friend." "Vinnie Dansics." "Gadarine." "Could we get her a glass?" "Are you Judas?" "(chuckling)" "(speaking in foreign language)" "Yeah, yeah." "(speaking in foreign language)" "(laughing)" "[Will] I'll drink with her." "(speaking in foreign language)" "(gentle guitar music)" "Ah, okay, pull over here, there." "Come on." "(sighs)" "(giggles) Come on." "Whoo!" "(light playful music)" "Do you feel the gas in the water?" "The bourbons." "I feel them on my balls." "(laughing)" "(screaming excitedly)" "(light playful music)" "So this is how it all started for me." "Little hidden places like this." "Yeah." "(giggling)" "Leave it off the map." "If you do that, we're even." "(light playful music)" "(keyboard clicking)" "(foreign music)" "(rooster crowing)" "[Gadarine] Hope this is it." "Sophia." "Sophia!" "(door knocking)" "(door creaking)" "(speaking in foreign language)" "Can you get him to get me a beer?" "(chuckling)" "[Sophia] Gadarine." "[Gadarine] Hey." "(speaking in foreign language)" "(glasses clinking)" "(laughing)" "(speaking in foreign language)" "[Will] Okay." "You have to eat." "I have to eat." "(scat singing)" "Vodka." "Drink." "Vodka." "Watch out of this stuff, okay?" "Homemade mulberry vodka." "And it's killed stronger men than you." "It's a good day to die." "(chuckling) Will!" "[Man in plaid] Will." "(speaking in foreign language)" "Will." "To drink, bring and you, Gadarine, will (murmuring)." "[Will] It's okay, that's good, tell me." "You're good." "Will." "(speaking in foreign language)" "(glasses clinking)" "(speaking in foreign language)" "She wants me to translate to you." "She says to us, to seeing me to you for being the one who brought us together for this visit." "There had to be more." "(laughing)" "There had to be more." "Yeah, but it's hard to translate." "(Will murmuring)" "Okay, let's see." "Made the new lines on our maps bring good things to this world." "[Will] Okay." "Will." "(baby crying)" "(speaking in foreign language)" "Will." "Drink." "Will." "(glasses clinking)" "We." "We should have come here sooner." "Sooner, we're very happy." "Happy." "[Will] To be here with you." "Friend." "(speaking in foreign language)" "Friend." "Friend." "(glasses clinking)" "(singing in foreign language)" "Drink." "(chuckling)" "My friend." "My friend." "(wind blowing)" "Hey, where's that old guy?" "You gotta go get that old guy to come and point again." "(chuckling)" "Go get him." "Sophia has good two kids." "I saw them sleeping." "So cute." "I mean, she and I play together every day." "Just girls, another life." "So they're, what are they?" "They're vineyards here." "Pomegranate-yards." "They're pomegranate-yards here." "No, I grew up on a pomegranate-yard." "A vineyard, a place where they make grapes." "Good grapes made wine." "You didn't tell me that." "I didn't tell you anything." "Hey, wait, the grape farm." "My dad didn't own it or anything." "He was just like the lead grape guy." "They're like your dad is the hotel guy." "He's a farmer of grapes." "Or a manager of grapes." "There are other farmers that he worked with." "I had a great time there as a kid." "The land." "I loved that place." "Why didn't he tell you to stay?" "I used to just go." "I wanted to see how far I could go before getting lost." "Real lost was the goal." "As a kid, I used to walk for hours." "In later days." "I just start, you know, pick a direction in the morning before it was light, just go." "And I used to worry them sick, but they got used to it, you know." "You get used to it." "I disappeared." "I wanted to find the edge of the world." "(light beaming music)" "[Voiceover] The astronomer carries a veil of pure darkness." "Dawn is a disorienting agent he says." "The stars are there all the time." "He embroiders maps on massive blankets threaded with spiderwebs and cocoon casings." "Gemstones form planets." "Satin passels are meteors." "He builds a dome over the turf to trap the darkness, marking a circle of horizon." "Then lashing sticks to form a frame." "Over this, he carefully drapes his heavy black blankets, painstakingly pierced with April's constellations." "When it rains, the stars drip into shining puddles on the earth." "The needle grows slick and dangerous in his hand." "(light music)" "(giggling)" "(playfully exclaiming)" "(speaking in foreign language)" "[Gadarine] Good morning." "Morning." "(child blabbering)" "[Gadarine] Want to eat?" "No." "(child screaming)" "We'll just fix it, will this make it better?" "We'll just fix it just to make everything better." "That doesn't help." "(chuckling)" "[Gadarine] Are you going to survive?" "Yeah, I'll be fine." "(chuckling)" "Have you ever been there?" "Iran?" "No, it's hard to get a visa." "It takes a long time." "I'd love to see that land." "One border at a time." "Let's get into Karabakh first." "(soldiers murmuring)" "He wants the passport." "(speaking in foreign language)" "Okay, I'll go get this, wait." "[Will] You want me to get out of the car." "Will." "Will." "I need some money." "Now." "(Will retching)" "(speaking in foreign language)" "Will, come on." "Hey, hey!" "Where's my maps?" "(yelling in foreign language)" "Let's go." "(Will murmuring)" "Remember where you are, okay?" "Get in the car and let's go." "(car engine revving)" "(Will retching)" "I warned you." "I'll be okay." "You should rest." "(gentle music)" "(wheels squealing)" "(water splashing)" "(murmuring in foreign language)" "Are you okay?" "We're okay." "[Will] Oh, shit." "What?" "What's that sound?" "What happened?" "[Gadarine] Sheep." "[Will] Damn it." "Okay, they helped me to find a driver." "Some local guy." "I don't think he speaks English so you will have to show him where you want to work on the map." "You're gonna be fine with that anyway." "I could come maybe." "I'll be fine on my own." "Oh, this is probably your guy." "Will." "[Will] I'll be back six or seven." "(foreign music)" "[Voiceover] This are stone crosses where (murmuring)." "(speaking in foreign language)" "[Voiceover] And I will add that they're very, very old." "(singing in foreign language)" "(light techno music)" "(speaking in foreign language)" "There's a girl I was with." "(speaking in foreign language)" "Could I borrow your pen?" "Mm-hmm." "Yeah, okay." "Room 23." "I'm staying in room 23 with a girl." "Has she been here?" "Mm-hmm." "Yeah, okay." "Okay." "(light guitar music)" "(murmuring)" "It's not Arizona, it's California." "(murmuring)" "(glasses clinking)" "(gentle music)" "Hey." "Hello." "Hello." "Hey, hotel." "Hotel." "Sir, sir." "Excuse me, sir, sir." "Yeah." "Are you fucking deaf?" "(door banging)" "Hotel or hotel?" "Hello." "Hello." "(speaking in foreign language)" "Okay, that's great, thanks." "Just take what I have." "Great bargaining technique." "Here." "Because on you." "Where were you?" "You know I don't have time for this shit." "Hey, what's wrong with you?" "Where the fuck were you?" "Okay, well, after you left," "I took a ride with the tour group from the hotel." "We ended up to this amazing monastery." "I didn't know it was an overnight trip, okay." "And anyways, it was good, mostly." "And I did some good pictures of there." "Okay." "What'd you want?" "An apology?" "I didn't knew I was uncaring to you." "You blew me off yesterday morning." "You just could of left a message at the hotel." "I waited." "What the fuck are you?" "My father?" "My brother?" "I mean, you couldn't handle one little night on your own?" "If I had known you were gonna stand me up." "Did we had a date?" "Did you have flowers?" "Jesus Christ." "Mister I'm so independent, just me and the land." "Did you miss your chaperone?" "I don't want a chaperone." "Good, because I don't wanna be one or have one." "I have waited hours for you while you hiked all over the place doing whatever you want with your shit." "You never ask me permission to keep me waiting." "Wrecking the car kept me waiting." "And as far as the hiking goes, that's my work." "I was working." "I work and I'm sorry if it delayed your little backpacking trip." "Work, work." "Making all your fabulous measurement, huh." "Mapping this place so that the politicians and the mafia can come and exploit it." "Nice work." "That's not why I'm here." "And when did you become such a woman of the people anyway?" "You don't even live here." "You know, you left." "None of this is easy for me, okay." "Being here, traveling, seeing family, old friends." "You don't have to deal with any of that!" "Yes, you take your measurement, okay." "You record your precious details." "But all you ever really do is skim the surface." "Your whole life is just a fucking big excuse to run away." "[Will] And yours isn't?" "No!" "Not anymore." "I mean there is a lot about your being here, your work, that you never had to deal with, because I've had to." "And then you disappeared." "I didn't disappear." "I came back." "I came back." "I'm sorry." "(Gadarine breathing heavily)" "(car engine revving)" "(phone ringing)" "Hello?" "What's up?" "I have to go." "(lips smooching)" "(light guitar music)" "(door knocking)" "(rapid guitar music)" "[Will] That's it?" "[Woman] Yeah, yes." "(keyboard clicking)" "(breathing heavily)" "(gentle music)" "(kettle whistling)" "(door knocking)" "(door knocking)" "Good morning." "Are you Krikor?" "(speaking in foreign language)" "Take good care of him." "Is he gonna pull through?" "He's okay now." "There's a doctor coming for tests." "But I think he'll be back till he's old." "(murmurs) If he can keep away from vodka." "Can he?" "Nice that you're here." "Come here." "[Gadarine] So, you're flying away." "[Will] Maybe I shouldn't." "Tomorrow." "(light violin music)" "Flying via London." "Those words don't even sound like words." "I'm being some place else there." "I will be here." "Could find a way to keep going." "I know." "But don't now." "Maybe you come back, you'll get a contract." "Find me again." "(Will chuckles)" "It's not looking likely." "You wanna come to San Francisco?" "You have to go." "(lip smooches)" "But (lip smooches)." "I'm not saying goodbye." "(gentle violin music)" "(light music)" "[Voiceover] One famous month, the explorers gathered together to map the same difficult terrain." "Though utterly dependent on one another to survive, they struggled with the unusual proximity." "Each evening they made their maps while sitting on the ground, backs to the fire, elbows crooked over their papers." "The flames shrunk in the cruel lands they came to, and the explorers used to cold hands and faces now worked with cold backs as well." "As the journey eked on, they took to walking in an outward facing circle, taking turns moving forwards, backwards, and sideways." "The supplies insupportably low." "The direction wheel whirled into a small unnamed town where it finally spun out and scattered." "The small plot of land in which they had arrived was fenced off." "It remains blank on every globe." "Every atlas." "In every roaming heart." "(wind blowing gently)" "* Put your sins until it's made" "* And kick it to the county line" "* Shake your change" "* Cold moons" "* Nothing's safe in your stars" "* In and out of sleep" "* Easier to rise and fall" "* I pull the mattress out the window" "* Laid out under the smoke ring" "* And from across" "* Shake your song break" "* Down" "* Sad, sad complication" "* In and out of sleep" "* Even with the rise and fall" "* Goes in like a worn out friend" "* We've cut our hair and fake our death *" "(light guitar music)"