Discoveries from Armenia World Cinema

An elderly man returns to the places of his happy childhood, though they have long since been reduced to ruins. The past cannot be reclaimed, but memory clings to what remains most precious.

A biopic about Turkish-Armenian photojournalist Ara Güler.

Grig Gevorgyan stand-up

Bozho, a small bear, lives alone and never leaves the house. But one day, the wind blows him out of the window.

A movie about human manipulation and how one person can be dependent on another person.

On the day his daughter is born, a man with hearing impairment finds his fugitive brother hidden in his car trunk, pleading for an escape to the border.

The film-portrait of Robert Amirkhanyan is based on Amirkhanyan’s monologue, it presents the maestro’s thoughts on creative, musical, personal and public issues. It consists of an in-frame monologue, live clips, contacts with relatives, colleagues and other people, archive videos and photos. Separate interviews with other professionals, friends and relatives are missing from the film. This gap is filled by live contacts, dialogues and “following scenes”. Maestro introduces himself in different environments, in each of them he talks about his memories and thinks about cultural issues. There are many archival videos in the film, some of which were left in the shadows for some reason, for many people they will be pleasant discoveries.

The film is the result of a charity workshop for children from Ukrainian families who came to Armenia. The film is based on their stories and memories to the music of the lullaby "Oh go sleep kolo vikon".

The story of a young woman who wants to commit suicide. At the moment when the heroine wants to jump off the bridge, a homeless man turns to her and asks her to give him her things.

Film about Soccer club Ararat Armenia.

A unique journey to one's own origins. It is divided into four headings symbolizing the main elements of world creation, which are: earth, water, air, fire. The film does not have a narrative-explanatory text, interviews, because it does not aim to be a television film accessible to the public. It is a unique prayer to God.

Combine touching, beautiful, humorous, spiritual and horrible scenes from existing and even non-existing films and show via animation within a 15-minute period.

The film follows the author, who in search of answers turns to science as a last hope. Embarking on a journey with Professor Cristina, the exploration centers around unraveling the mysteries of land—probing into its essence and questioning the existence of a memory or connection between the land and its inhabitants.

In beautiful black & white, this documentary maker provides his often sombre view of his home country of Armenia, one of the former Soviet republics that found itself in an economic, political and social crisis after independence.

During his mother’s brain surgery, a wound-tight teenage drummer struggles to calm his mind, only to be quietly pushed beyond his own moral limits.

"Edge" is a film that transports the viewer to the edges of Yerevan, where the environment shapes the stories of its inhabitants. Through the experiences of three anonymous boys, the film reveals the emotional burden of societal pressure, criminal culture and the values of survival that led them to serve time in jail as teenagers. The dreamlike imagery of Charbakh, Masiv and Shengavit adds a poetic and almost surreal contrast to the harsh realities faced by the characters, emphasizing the complexity of their experiences. "Edge" portrays the contrasting perspectives of each character, creating a question about the impact of the environment on an identity.

When your love to life and harmony of pain will be mixed together you will see the brightness and colors of life but easily in a second they can lost their worth and the only color which will be visible it's black...

The animated film brings to life the enchanting hayrens (a form of traditional Armenian poetry) of Nahapet Kuchak, a medieval poet, through a series of visually stunning animations.

A documentary film about the creative life of Aram Vardani. His music becomes the language of the city, where sounds replace words and rhythms reflect the pulse of urban life. Through his work, the inner dynamics of the city unfold noise, silence, movement, and stillness. The film explores how music can transform words into colors, creating a unique emotional space where the personal and the urban merge into a single artistic flow.

When a handwritten will surfaces, two estranged brothers must decide whether to sign away their inheritance or each other as debts, secrets, and a pushy family lawyer force them to confront the cost of loyalty.

The film is a historical review dedicated to the national hero of Armenia, Monte Melkonyan. The script is directed by the director. It tells the story of an American schoolboy who, by chance, ended up in California. The next lesson reminded him of the history of his ancestors, which had frozen his gaze. And when the teacher finished the lesson, he saw the boy and it became clear who that boy was. He was 14-year-old Monte Melkonyan.

Aram Manukyan's film Sigma is the first Armenian film to be screened in the Vatican and receive an award.

The story is about a large Armenian family accompanying their son to war. In the eyes of everyone he is a hero, confidently fulfilling his duty to the Motherland, but for a 20-year-old guy this is not entirely true.

On the edge of a wordless world, deep in the misty mountains of the Caucasus, an old man watches the blue sky die and be reborn above him.

The documentary “Maestro Mansurian” tells about the known and unknown episodes of composer Tigran Mansurian. Maestro’s activities outside Armenia remain undiscovered up to now. The film gives many answers, many of the prominent European and American music figures talk about it. It's dedicated to the 80th birthday of the composer.

A documentary about Armenian conductor "Ohan Duryan"

The "David’s Garden" is a 49-minute documentary film about the sufferings of a father who lost his young son in the war and his journey to fulfill son's unfinished dreams.

Two lovers encounter in a train, separated by a wall, on February the 19th.

November 2020. Major Pavel Skorin is assigned the task of evacuating residents of small villages in Artsakh, who are away from the main events during the 44-day war. An old man named Suren, who lives with his grandson in the village of Atsagat, refuses to leave his house

Rafael discovers a lone goose at home, chases it inside, and dirties the room. His wife and neighbors think an angel visited. Rafael goes along, jokes about angelic dirt, and the village starts using it for healing. They build a chapel. When they use it on a sick child, Rafael reveals the truth, but no one believes him.

When war besieges the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh, writer and photographer Lika takes cover in a bunker - and begins to write a diary. Little does she know that her words will become the definitive chronicle of the brutal 44-day war.

A film about the status of women in Armenian villages; focusing on how traditional gender roles fuel domestic violence and how violence is perpetuated, taught, encouraged and even accepted in many cases.

Raffi and Silva are a married couple with a son. After struggling to make ends meet, the couple have a fight. Silva and the baby son runaway leaving Raffi behind. Raffi is heartbroken and struggles with his dream to be a musician. After some time, he gets the big break and goes from an Armenian singing idol into a worldwide superstar

"A Peculiar Place" is an audio-visual component of the very short untitled poem written above. "A Peculiar Place (Տարօրինակ մի տեղ)" is a short experimental work by Anna Grigorian, shot entirely on cellphone. The foley sounds and traveling lights are trying to discern the immediate surroundings, and seemingly habitual surfaces. The work is created in Montreal, almost 9 thousand kilometers away from home. The one-minute experimental work is a meditation on a split identity (immigration, immediate surrounding, internal space) through juxtaposition of natural play of sunlight and the artist playing with a flashlight on interior surfaces.

A surreal drama where the worldwide problem of emigration is summarized.

The boy tries to find the meaning of life and understand why he feels lonely.

What will happen when a young man, who has no connection to the school, becomes a teacher? How will it affect the students and, on the other hand, change his life?

After the death of their beloved son Vardan, who was serving as a soldier in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, Rose and her husband Aksel decide to have a baby boy to keep the memory of Vardan alive. However, their teenage daughter Ani is against this idea, as she lives through grief of her brother's death in a completely different way.

The documentary is dedicated to the life and work of Gurgen Musheghyan, who was a laureate of the USSR State Prize, Honored Architect of the Republic of Armenia and ACA Academician The film introduces the famous architect from different points of view, revealing his professional-human features, the projects he has implemented on a local-urban scale, his thoughts on the architect’s mission, human-city harmony. The image of the architect-intellectual is completed in the combination of these works and thoughts. The film is a portrait with its composition, consisting of interviews, live episodes, directorial-theatrical shootings, archive materials and graphic images.

By showing the performances of the Ayrudzi troupe in Armenia, the film acquaints the audience with one of the most interesting phenomena of national culture – shadow theatre.

‘The most difficult and the most important thing in life is to make a decision. The present depends on it and, what is more, it will always influence the future’, is what a father tells a teenage boy. When the first bombs fall, he will be faced with the choices determining the life of his family, friends, some unknown people and a turtle. ‘250 km’ is a true story which features a boy, its hero and participant. The entire cast was affected by the consequences of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020. The film, however, tells the story of human solidarity in the face of the conflict but not the conflict itself. When terrible things happen and every second may determine life or death, life is put above all else, regardless of one’s affiliation with one’s own species.

The action takes place in one of the Armenian villages in Abkhazia. For a local boy, life is not very difficult: he loves his mother, loves his uncle, goes to work at a local coal packing warehouse, but one day an event happens.

Socio-geographic explorations on the periphery of Addis Ababa, run through by a variety of borders and rifts – between agrarian and urban spatial practices, between economic and linguistic floes, between perspective and dilemma. A polyphonic audiovisual narrative of people who are forced to experience the impetuous urbanisation of African societies the hard way, recorded as a case study that expands into a complex allegory.

Passeurs de Reves opens with longtime sweethearts Dolovan and Zara fleeing from their Mesopotamian village, which has been ravaged by ethnic warfare. As they make their way across the frigid Caucasian Mountains, Zara's parents, who are traveling with the couple, succumb to the elements. Dolovan and Zara eventually make it to a run-down evacuee camp presided over by a friendly Kurdish "tsar," where Zara discovers that her deceased father's suitcase is filled with cash. Although this is ostensibly good news, the cash makes the couple vulnerable to smugglers, dodgy guides, and counterfeiters, all of whom are eager to take advantage of Dolovan and Zara's newfound wealth. To further complicate matters, although they have money, the couple lack necessary visas to continue their journey, and soon Dolovan is taken away by the police. Abandoned in the Ukraine, Zara is robbed and then disappears, while Dolovan, traveling solo, eventually makes it to Paris to reunite with his love.

The unsuccessful attempt of meditation of Buddhist monk turns into unbelievable expectation.

A story of a little boy named Seto who lives in a small village in Armenia. Soon, a new member of his family is to be born. Seto is hoping for a brother, yet the infant dies. Instead of a little brother, a lamb appears in Seto's life. Initial dislike turns quickly into liking - friendship evolves between Seto and the lamb. Unfortunately, not for long. The family decides that the boys has to part with his favorite animal.

Told from the point of view of a rescued buffalo, this is the story of a small town trying to find itself after the Armenian-Azeri conflict. The buffalo's reception by the other farm animals reflects the distrust rife in the countries of the post-Soviet world.

The hedgehog, like all animals in the forest, wants to play with balloons. But as soon as he touches them, they immediately explode. And he is determined to find the balloon meant for him.

This is a story about countries in war, during which an uncountable amount of soldiers die and even in the last moment when it seems one may avoid death, it still turns inevitable. No to wars, No to death, No to disaster, No to cruelty Give me peace.

A story about a brain tumor surgery.

Preparing for and celebrating Christmas in an Armenian family. A documentary about this tradition.

Expecting his 18th birthday to be special, Andranik faces a failed first kiss and a falling-out among friends, learning that adulthood arrives as an ordinary day where nothing truly changes.

Believing that a man will complete her, a young provincial Zhanna searches for love — only to discover that wholeness cannot be borrowed from someone else.

In 2094 the number of people exceeded 30 billion, people couldn't stop the extinction or animals and began to eat human meat. Anahit was one of the first to open her own human meat shop in Armenia․

A girl named Alice finds herself in a dreamlike world where she feels at ease. She meets an ultra-kind wizard named Orik, who helps her achieve fame. But something is interfering with their relationship... But what exactly?

The little donkey shows everyone that anyone can succeed, regardless of the doubts of those around them.

A chance romance with a girl that keeps matchboxes with pictures of missing people and searches for them at night, one night she disappears.

After dreaming of her father's death, a young woman begins to inhabit the turbulent landscapes of his dreams and memories, uncovering fears that mirror her own.