Russia-based Armenian director Maria Sahakyan has died at the age of 37, film critic Andrei Plakhov said in a Facebook post on Sunday, January 28.

“[She was] a talented director and a good person. She made auteur films, highly personal movies that reflected her childhood in Armenia and her emigration to Russia,” Plakhov said.

“She did not make commercial compromises, she was very demanding about the profession and to herself (...) Cancer killed her. It is impossible to believe in the death of a beautiful 37-year-old woman.”

Born in Yerevan in 1980, Sahakyan graduated from Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography in 2003. The film "Farewell" was her thesis and went on to receive several awards, including the Grand Prix at the Golden Apricot festival. She is survived by her five children.