This is an untold story about what happened after the 2004 massacre in Beslan, in North Ossetia, which made global headlines as one of the bloodiest moments in Russia’s battle with Chechen militants. Music teacher Dina Kargiyeva lost her 11-year-old daughter in the chaos that saw some 330 deaths amid a bungled attempt by special forces to free hundreds of children taken hostage in a school. At first, Kargiyeva did not want to live. Later, she tried in vitro fertilization and a surrogate mother but both failed. Finally, aged 44, she adopted a girl who, she says, was her salvation.
To mark this weekend's 20th anniversary of the siege, documentary maker Dmitri Beliakov recalls meeting Kargiyeva and tells her story.