Armenian Movies and Films Resources

Armenia, the land of cinematography and ancient culture finally to the amusement of the youth met into fusion. Long time Zare, an armenian epic film is an amazing story which reaches out to people touching their hearts, which is based on the lives of the Kurds. Another moving movie Khaspush, shows the struggle of the poor against their oppressors in Iran. These movies just prove that Armenian people also focus on the trauma and hardships faced by the people of other nations. 

Asia was shown as a land of exotic horrors and wonders in early oriental films. Actually these films touch upon realistic topics of life, for example the chains of slavery are slowly beginning to break in the east and the stagnant customs are also changing with time. Gikor, the movie which epitomizes Armenian cinema. This movie tells us the story a boy who has been a victim of this pathetic world.Armenian cinema has a lot of comedies to its credit to boast about. Shor and Shor-Shor, Mexican Diplomats and Kiko are some of popular comedies. Kiko” being a national heroic comedy, Mexican Diplomats being a political satire and Shor and Shor-Shor is based on everyday life.

In March 1924, in Yerevan the Armenian film studio Haykino also know as Armeniko was put into operation. In 1920s Armenia had a well-equipped movie studio.
The establishment and formation of a national school of Armenian cinema characterized the 1920s and 30s. The Armenian cinematographys history saw many dark phases. In 1930 the first crisis struck on Armenian cinema, which only worsened in the 40s. This lead to a decrease in the number of Armenian films made.The first sound film Pepo was a turning point in Armenian cinema in around 1935. This film was a stepping-stone for Armenian cinema, as it encompassed the experience of the silent film and also enlarged the scope of Armenian cinema at the same time. This film was so popular and gained international recognition and become a form of representation of Armenian cinema abroad.

There was a rise in the production of features and documentaries in the mid 1950s.this was the revival period for Armenian cinema as it set off a new artistic quest and it also recovered its professionalism.

The introduction of unique colour and original humour in Armenian cinema was found in the 1960s. This was the phase of high poetry and many films gained international recognition during the end of the 1960s. Armenian cinema was on the peak as this stage.
 In the decade of 70s a whole new generation of cinematographers was born. The artistic Armenian filmmakers have had continued their good work way beyond the 70s.

In the 1980s Armenian cinema finally nurtured and reached maturity to get ready for the most artistic tasks. The tragedy of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the destruction of the film industry side by side was very surprising for the Armenian film industry.  1990 saw a whole new lot of extremely talented filmmakers. Armenian movies were made on various topics and they won many awards and diplomas in international film festivals and screenings. Armenian filmmakers made movies and it was a discovery of great cinema. Armenian filmmakers started producing films on their on risk and expenses by the 1990s. They dealt with the legislation problems quite easily. It is amazing to still have improvisation in Armenian cinema in recent times. Long ago, way back at the starting of the century many Armenian artist individually tried to reflect their thoughts and ideas on screen but all in vain. April 16th, 1923, on this very day Armenian cinema was literally born. The reason for this being that the Armenian state committee on cinema, or the goskino (in the Armenian language) was established under a soviet government decree. Daniel Dznuni and Hamo Bek-Nazarov are two of the important founders of the Armenian cinema. Professionalism and originality are clearly depicted through Bez-Nazarovs films. Bek-Nazarov is an outstanding figure of Russian pre-soviet and Daniel Dznuni is a 28-year-old filmmaker.

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