Dawood Hilmandi’s nickname comes with serious weight: Paikar is the Persian word for “warrior.” While his family refers to him this way with pride, this intimate portrait reveals it as a psychological burden mirroring a life fragmented by displacement. Living in exile in Amsterdam, Hilmandi reflects on an identity born from fleeing Afghanistan and Iran under the shadow of an authoritarian father. The emotional weight shifts when he returns to Iran to confront this source of alienation, transforming a personal diary into a cross-generational road trip. As father and son travel together into Afghanistan during a global pandemic, the narrative evolves into a profound meditation on survival. Through poetic, wandering visuals, the story questions whether home is a physical territory or a state of forgiveness. True freedom emerges here not by crossing borders but through the resilience of human connection. The journey proves that even within rigid traditions, the most enduring strength is the quiet courage required to reconcile with the past. Gugi Gumilang