Interstitial Cinema: the films of Artavazd Pelechian 2

Event has passed

A vibrant tribute to the Armenian people, We is portrait of exile, reunion, collective fervour, destruction and reconstruction, that captures the tumults of Armenia’s history, the Armenian genocide in particular. It was screened at the Oberhausen International Short Film Festival in 1970 where it won the festival’s main award.

The Inhabitants evokes the existential threat posed by humans through frenzied swirls and stampedes of panicked animals. “Many people were offended or insulted by We. After that experience, I was mad at mankind and decided to make a film about animals. Animals don’t get upset, but at the same time, by focusing on them, I could say the same things as I was saying about people”. (Pelechian)

Considered by many the greatest documentary ever made in Armenia, The Seasons of the Year shows a reclusive peasant community in its unceasing battle with the elements. This would be Pelechian’s last collaboration with cinematographer Mikhail Vartanov. “It is not specifically the seasons of the year or of people: it’s everything. One should not forget that this film’s main ‘heroes’ are not the people, but the seasons and nature. It is not man that imposes himself upon nature, but rather nature that imposes itself upon man. The film is about the interrelationship between man and nature.” (Pelechian)

On the train from Moscow to Yerevan, Pelechian films men and women of different ages and ethnicities; the train becomes a microcosm of humanity and the journey a metaphor for life. Made as the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s, Pelechian considers End a companion film to The Beginning.

With an introduction by Sona Karapoghosyan.
With the support of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.