A childhood lost to war, an entire people’s yearning for their homeland, and the vibrancy of the Armenian heritage – three of the many themes told by the short films in the event “Armenians in Film,” held on Friday, October 4, 2024, in the Leon S. Peters and Pete P. Peters Educational Center on the Fresno State campus.

The screening was co-sponsored by the Armenian Studies Program, CineCulture, AGBU Arts, and the Armenian General Benevolent Union Greater Fresno Chapter. Following the screening, a Zoom discussion took place with film director Anahid Yahjian, who spoke about her films Hishé and Levon – A Wondrous Life and answered audience questions.

As people entered the auditorium, the sounds of the Armenian and English language together began to echo throughout the walls. Individuals of all ages gathered despite the heat outside to commemorate the Armenian heritage, depicted so vibrantly in the short films Hishé, 250 KM, Anahide, Levon – A Wondrous Life, Taniel, and From the Border. The films were written in a way which allowed the audience to feel the precise emotions of each film, making them more of an experience rather than something one simply watches.

After introductions by CineCulture director Dr. Mary Husain and Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian, the room became dark and Hishé, directed by Anahid Yahjian, began.

Hishé, which in English means “remember,” fits the film like a glove, as the scenes take place in Artsakh and encompass the feelings of grief, the complexity of remembrance, yearning, and betrayal. After the ethnic cleansing that took place during the Artsakh War in 2020 and in the events of 2023, Artsakh became a vacant place and a land which can no longer be visited by its inhabitants. While showing several fragments of videos of Artsakh’s land, the narrating voice repeated “hishé” several times, commanding the audience to remember, and solemnly said other phrases which convey the grief of losing Artsakh.

During the post-screening zoom discussion, Yahjian discussed her feelings toward the film and expressed her intention of connecting with Armenians who are also experiencing this loss.

“I made this film for Armenians,” Yahjian said.

The cultural death of the Armenian homeland, the efforts to resurrect this fatality through memory, and the piece which was ripped from the Armenian puzzle – Hishé captures it all.

Following Hishé and also concerning the Artsakh War was 250 KM, directed by Hasmik Movsisyan. 250 KM tells the story of a family at the start of the Artsakh War, where a 14-year-old boy named Davit must take on the role of a leader and drive his family away from the war sirens and into safety. Movsisyan illustrates a bravery that no child should have to possess through the scenes of smoke-filled skies, the lifeless expression on Davit’s face, and the mood of chaos, abandonment, and survival. In a short twenty minutes, the audience watched as a child lost his innocence to war and begins to understand what a dying man on his deathbed wishes he did not – that he must look war in the eyes and have a stand-off.

The film begins when the family hears the emergency sirens sounding and they rush to get dressed, downstairs, and into the car which 14-year-old Davit decides to drive. There are people running through the streets, family members being left behind, and bombs going off throughout all of Artsakh. Davit drives the family through the mountains and they pick up several refugees on the way-including children and a pregnant woman-and, even in a seemingly empty place, they must all get out of the car and hide in order to avoid being bombed.

250 KM is a film of the reality of war, a childhood lost to its deathly grip, and a non-exaggerated depiction of what Armenians went through just a few short years ago.

Anahide, directed by Arnaud Khayadjanian, includes a discussion between a father and a daughter living in France. This film has an aspect of humor, as it begins with the daughter, Anahide, asking her father if she can get a tattoo to represent Armenia, because she has never visited there. The audience laughed as the father immediately objected to this idea of a tattoo, and then their discussion continued. They reminisce about Anahide’s mother, who died, and about their Armenian culture in the diaspora, and talk about her father’s promise to take her to Armenia.

A unique trait about this film is that its dialogue is in Western Armenian, which is considered to be an endangered dialect in comparison to Eastern Armenian. The film ends with Anahide revealing her tattoo of Mt. Ararat which she had all along, and her father surprisingly saying that it fits her well. Anahide is a representation of the importance of communication, catharsis, and the complex relationship between a father and a daughter.

On a lighter note, the documentary Levon- A Wondrous Life, directed by Anahid Yahjian and Emily Mkrtichian, tells the story of a wise, happy man named Levon who lives in Yerevan in the midst of a struggling post-Soviet Armenian society. There is a contrast to be noted between the black and white scenes in this film juxtaposed with Levon’s true thrill of simply being alive, as the 60-year-old rollerblades through the streets of Yerevan and plays Armenian songs on his piano.

“I am alone but not lonely,” Levon says in his apartment. The mere act of being happy can be powerful beyond words in weak circumstances, and Yahjian does a phenomenal job highlighting Levon’s ability to see the beauty in an otherwise desolate place.

“He was still rollerblading,” said Yahjian in regard to her trip to Yerevan in 2019, when she last saw Levon.

Arguably the most poignant film of the six is Taniel, directed by Garo Berberian, which is set on April 24, 1915 in Constantinople, Turkey. Brought to life through deep black and gray filming, a visceral, beautiful poem being read aloud throughout the film, the Armenian prayers/hymns “Hayr Mer” and “Soorp Asdvadz” being sung in the background, and a profound analogy of life and death, Taniel can be seen as an experience that transcends ordinary feeling in that it is religious, innate, and painful to watch.

The film takes viewers through Taniel Varoujan’s torture during the Genocide, the erasure of his work and, finally, through his death which also marked the day of his child’s birth. The pain of Taniel seeped through the screen and bled onto the audience members, as they watched this awfully magnificent film with wide, watering eyes.

The final film of this event was From the Border, directed by Artur Saribekyan. In this animated work, an old man and his dog are shown as the only inhabitants of an abandoned village in Armenia. One by one, the man fixes each house and repairs doors, and ultimately breathes life back into the village. This is a sweet film which elevated the audience members’ spirits after viewing the grimness of genocide and which displays themes of second-chances, the preservation of culture, and the simplicities of life which can be translated into greatness.

The “Armenians in Film” event allowed the audience to live six different lives within the span of roughly one and a half hours, and provided a hand that held those of the Armenians in the crowd who relate to some of the issues presented, and taught the non-Armenian viewers about the Artsakh War, the Armenian Genocide, and of the general significance of tradition and heritage to Armenians.