From 1489 to Infinity

Most probably everyone has heard of the scandal related to the selection of a film for Armenia’s Oscar nomination. Admittedly, the notion of ‘scandal’ has depreciated in modern Armenia, for it is everywhere. Yet this one instance is a rare exception. Which is hard to believe, as for the first time we actually had something to present to the world, and not by giving in to fashion, but by speaking our own story.

We refer to the film 1489, entirely shot with a mobile phone by the sister of a fallen warrior. For some families, the very 1489 days of waiting to hear from their missing sons and brothers will soon be ticking away. Yet for director Shoghakat Vardanyan, that number is the ominous number of her brother Soghomon’s remains. It is a film revealing the tragedy of the 44-day war, as well as the depth of the crisis that the Armenian society has been and is enduring, through the example of one family. This is Shoghakat Vardanyan’s first film as well as the first film in the history of The Third Republic having already won major awards in the cinema world and understanding and compassion in audiences worldwide.

It would seem that here it is, the first in 30 years, a compelling reason to nominate a film for an Oscar. But the Armenian Film Academy – a self-governing public organisation – lives by the laws of those very 30 years, during which it achieved nothing, just like practically all the institutions of the Third Republic. The Film Academy chooses a Russian-Armenian film made under the direction of its own member Edgar Baghdasaryan, ‘Yasha and Leonid Brezhnev’. Ironically, ‘Yasha’ is Armenian just for the sake of this very nomination. Russian director Sarik Andreasyan has already made a mistake in 2016, when the Academy Awards Committee refused to admit his ‘Earthquake’ on behalf of Armenia due to the predominance of Russians in the film crew.

The Armenian Film Academy was well aware that even with formal compliance with this criticism, ‘Yasha,’ which is unknown to international audiences, would not make it onto any shortlists. Nor is there such a goal, the only important thing is the addendum about ‘Oscar nomination’, so that those who are really dear to the ‘experts’ of the Film Academy – their brothers in the trough and in the monopoly market – make more money at the distribution. And why not give a hand to the ‘big brother’ in bypassing the international ‘boycott’ – as there is an excellent example in the face of Prime Minister Pashinyan, an enthusiast of parallel imports to Russia and promotion of anyone’s – as long as not Armenian – soft and hard power.

Two extremes. A young woman who devoted her brother to the Motherland and communicates the pain of the Motherland and the realities of the 44-day war to the world, standing alone with her grief. And the ‘men’ who holed up in Moscow and Yerevan, maybe paid off the Motherland with a few hundred-thousand dollars in 2020, and now, when the country where they live and pay taxes is in isolation, are promoting a film which has nothing to do with Armenian realities, in the name of Armenia. Furthermore – it even darkens them and partially justifies why Armenia was all alone against its enemies in 2020: Armenian grandfather Yasha is still pursuing a dialogue with Leonid Brezhnev. And if there is no national elite, there is practically no Armenian Artsakh either. Nor independent Armenia. The Armenian Film Academy is opting the same way as Armenian leaders of the last 30 years – personal connections and kickbacks (‘otkats’), short-term profit over public interests. And as long as this keeps going on, Armenian Yasha will be seeking help where there is and will not be any, shutting off the air to the young professionals and destroying our heroes with their avarice and neglect.