‘Gate to Heaven’ to Be Released in US in October

His other film credits include “Les Miserable du XX Siècle” for director Claude Lelouche; “Life is Beautiful” for director Roberto Begnini; the original “Taxi” written by Luc Besson; “Casino Royale” for director Martin Campbell; “Beauty and the Beast” opposite Vincent Cassel and Léa Seydoux for director Christophe Gans; and most recently McG’s “Three Days to Kill” opposite Kevin Costner.

“The most striking aspect of Avetisyan’s work is certainly the psychological depth of its main characters, in particular that of Robert and Sophia. Robert is a veteran in his field, incapable to achieve a good work-life balance, tremendously stubborn and characterized by a complex personality; meanwhile, Sophia is shown in all of her fragility and seems to believe in the healing power of music. Their romance is staged with no sugarcoating, but still with an adequate, credible level of tenderness and passion. In more general terms, the well-written lead characters are backed by solid interpretations and a good supporting cast. Worth mentioning in this respect are the performances from Sos Janibekyan (playing a local journalist accompanying Robert during his investigation), Leonardas Pobedonoscevas (Sophia’s partner) and Benedict Freitag (Robert’s editor- in-chief), whose appearances — brief but incisive enough — contribute to disclose part of the two leads’ backstories.

“Gate to Heaven” was recently included in Be Epic! London International Film Festival held on September 2-3, as the opening film of the festival. It won in the category of “Best Cinematography.”

“Gate to Heaven” won “Best Production Design” and “Best Sound Mixer” on April 15, 2022, at the third Anahit Film Awards held by Armenian National Film Academy. In addition, the film won four awards at the Ontario International Film Festival (ONIFF) in Canada on October 24, 2021: “Best Sound,” “Best Music,” and “Best Script for the International Feature,” and “Best International Feature Film.”

The composer of the soundtrack, Michele Josia of Italy, received two awards for his beautifully composed soundtrack. Silver Medal – Outstanding Achievement – “Soundtrack for Film and Television” at the Global Music Awards, California, (U.S.). Michele’s second recognition comes as a finalist for “Best Score of the Month” at the TMA – American Tracks Music Award.

Avetisyan is currently working on two other two feature film projects, titled “Revival” and “Black List,” which are currently in the development phase. “Revival” received international interest by the selection committee of Berlinale Talents, Berlin International Film Festival. Avetisyan was selected amongst 3,400 applicants to attend Berlinale Talents 2020.