Ruben Gevorgyants.Lie is unacceptable in documentaries 

From the first days of the Artsakh movement, when mass demonstrations were taking place on the Opera Square, the cameramen of Hayk documentary film studio spent day and night on the “scene” to document and capture with camera all the details of the most important page in our modern history. Modern history of Armenia and Artsakh was being written before their eyes, and the newly created documentary filmmaking was to become witness to these events too.

During the rough times of the war, director of Hayk documentary film studio Ruben Gevorgyants gathered all cameramen and said, “I cannot force anyone, but we cannot fail to start filming, for we are documentarians. Who wants to voluntarily leave for Artsakh and do some filming there?”

– Boris Hovsepyan was the first cameraman that responded to my suggestion. Later, when Shushi was liberated, we got a house there and turned it into Hayk film studio local office. We even obtained a document at the newly created municipality of Shushi that the house accommodated he stuff of Hayk film studio. Much work had to be done in that house because it was damaged as a result of bombardment and had no windows. Boris Hovsepyan repaired the house and started living there. Here he used to receive all the camera crews that visited Artsakh. Levon Petrosyan joined him later. In fact, traveling to Artsakh was difficult at that time. It was necessary to get the permission of then Defense Minister Vazgen Manukyan first and then Vazgen Sargsyan. We could travel there only by helicopter and for that we had to take necessary amount of oil. That was the order. Our guys traveled there and filmed a large number of interesting episodes, including the capture of Shushi.

Shavarsh Vardanyan, one of the Hayfilm studio cinematographers, was on the battlefield from the first days of the war and has captured а fairly lengthy video material. Unfortunately, his recent materials were destroyed by fire on a burning plane. However, he accumulated a large amount of war materials that became a basis for pretty interesting content. Ara Mnatsakanyan, Vrezh Petrosyan, Karen Gevorgyan – many of Armenian documentary filmmakers left for Artsakh in those years to work in extremely difficult conditions and capture on camera the most significant episodes of the Artsakh war chronicles.

Hayk film studio often gets back to the Artsakh war and its heroes. Among recently made films that turned out to be a success was The Volunteer, directed by Anna Tovmasyan.  The film tells a story of three friends: Dmitry Motrich, Ilya Kulikov and Myasnik Gasparyan. They were killed in 1992 near the village of Chartar after completing a serious combat mission. Two major films were recently produced at our studio – one of them is about well-known village of Chinar directed by Karen Gevorgyan, the other film is My Border, by Armen Khachatryan. The latter will premiere in December. One of the most successful films on the Artsakh war theme is Vardan Hovhannisyan’s documentary, A Story of People in War and Peace. I very much appreciate the truthfulness of this film. Lie is unacceptable in documentaries. You need to tell the truth by putting it into the concept of art. The message of the film is very important too, in other words, what your film is going to convey is very significant. Armenians love lamenting and crying but we need to think first what we are going to transmit to younger generation. There is no need to avoid what we call “ideology”. Our country is at war and we cannot afford things that might be harmful for us. War documentary has its own taboos: for example, is it necessary to show cut off ears? Or, why do we need horrifying scenes? Who needs them at all?

– Does a film actually show what has really happened?

– War is a terrible thing. As much as a film is realistic, you watch it at home, sitting in an armchair in a quiet atmosphere. You can switch off the TV and war will disappear. But real war is different. I went to Artsakh, because I could not stay at home. I went there and witnessed terrible atrocities. Imagine entering a village to discover dozens of cut off child hands and see that the entire village has literally been slaughtered. This is a real war. But another fact is that during the war I discovered the immense courage of our people, ingenuity and a great sense of humor, which it did not lose even throughout the war.

– Is there anyone who was left out of the sight of cameras?

– There are hundreds of people who have been out of sight. For example, Alexander Tamanyan’s grandson, Shurik. A separate film could be shot about him. We have numerous heroes who are unknown to many. Many of them have been neglected not only in films, but also in literature and in real life…

Recently, there was a festival of young filmmakers called This is Me and it had a special award in the Best Patriotic Film category. In the last two festivals, no films were presented in this category and this is very sad. The war theme does not feature here at all.

– Do you think the war theme hasn’t been completely opened up? 

– I think documentary films are past their prime, but motion pictures might be promising. Mikael Poghosyan’s recent film titled If Only Everyone, is made in this genre and covers this very theme.

– The criteria of documentary filmmaking have changed? 

-It is difficult to identify the standards of contemporary documentary, but a good film stands out immediately. It is not subject to any laws. There’s just a good film, and that’s it. Fortunately, this genre has been formed and well-established in Armenia. 

– To what extent are documentary materials currently used as propaganda assets?

– Unfortunately, we are not very successful at this front; we are losing the game because there is a lack of coordinate work. They are making various films, with no end in sight, and you struggle to understand their meaning. Many films are made with good intentions, but filmmakers themselves are politically immature. Sometimes they use materials that can only harm us. Not every truth is a piece of art. Film screenings are another serious problem. And for what audience are these films made for? For us? You need serious leverage in order to pay for film screenings. We do not get state orders, so we choose what to film and what to leave aside. I happened to be in Iraq during its war with Iran. Saddam Hussein had founded cinematographic studios which invited famous American film directors to shoot historical feature films that would campaign for the truthfulness of Iraq’s position.

Whether this position was right or wrong was not really important; the enormous amount of work that was being done was more essential here. None of us deals with such issues now.The introduction of War documentary filmmakers and their works is an interesting and noteworthy initiative by Kinoashkharh. It is no coincidence that every year Russia celebrates the Day of Victory in the Great Patriotic War and remembers war veterans on any occasion, because these very heroes educate and serve as role models for younger generation.

***Ruben Gevorgyants was born in Yerevan in 1945. In 1968 he graduated from the Institute of Fine Arts and Theatre of Yerevan.He is the chairman of the Cinematographer’s Union of Armenia and the creative director of HAYK Documentary Film Studio. He is also a professor at Yerevan State Institute of Theatre and Cinematography, a member of International Academy of Television and Radio, the RA honored art worker and the laureate of the RA Presidential Award 2009.

Gevorgyants has produced over 60 films. Within international film festivals he has received 20 diplomas and awards of which 5 make up Grand Prixes.He is the author of four books.