Jivan Avetisyan Wants to Bring Story of Artsakh to the World

The film is more artistic than a Hollywood blockbuster, but it is not an avant-garde style “art film.” Avetisyan has brought a picture of real people and real life to the screen without over-dramatization. Because the film is intended for a worldwide audience, much of the dialogue is spoken in English, with portions in Armenian and German. Avetisyan believed that in this way he could get the message of Artsakh’s struggle across to a wider audience.

Throughout the film, the “Gate to Heaven” (Drakhti Darbast) serves as an actual geographical location, a vista of great beauty looking across a cliff, open to the sky; as well as a metaphor. “Every man has their own drakhti dur (Door to Heaven),” Avetisyan commented in a recent interview. “Every character [in the film] says his sins to confess, and pass through.”

He continues that being born in Artsakh, he views the land with religious fervor. “We are continuing to fight for it; Artsakh is like our Jerusalem, it’s the place which is religious.”

One of the outstanding features of the film is the exquisite cinematography of the scenery and landscapes in and around Shushi. Unfortunately, most of the areas depicted in the film are currently in the hands of the Azerbaijan, including the “Gate to Heaven.” The location serves as a focal point of the film, the opera singer character’s favorite place to go to during her childhood. It seems also a metaphor for the possibilities that Armenia and the Armenian people have to strive for greater heights.

Continuing with the theme of the “Gate to Heaven,” Avetisyan explains that the critical points of the film take place through the development of the main characters’ stories. “There are several critical points, because there are different characters with different fates and different stories. The first one is when the man confesses his sins and comes close to the Gate to Heaven.’ The second one is that the girl is trying to find her father, find her roots and feel completed. The third one is that silence is the same as crime.”

Echoing a common sentiment, Avetisyan explains that the film is intended to be a wake-up call to the world in regard to the situation of the Armenian people in Artsakh and Armenia. “The world was witness to what is happening,” said Avetisyan, “but there are silent.”