‘We must live in reality without losing our own fairy tale,’ Says ‘Avtona’ Film Director Ani Grigoryan

Speaking about the documentary’s principal character led to the topic of the Yezidis in Armenia. About 35 thousand Yezidis live in Armenia. She said they mainly live in mountainous regions and are engaged in animal husbandry and farming. The Yezidi community is of great importance for the Armenian people and culture, Ani remarks. She said, “Yezidis live very peacefully with Armenians. Suko says in the film that he goes to an Armenian school and has many Armenian friends. I believe the brotherhood between Armenians and Yezidis will last long.”

Grigoryan was not solely the main director of “Avtona.” Additionally, she was the script writer and participated in the editing. “The documentary genre is one of the most interesting and flexible genres in cinema, allowing your creativity to shine. The most important aspect is the editing, a role I really enjoyed in ‘Avtona.’ Doing it, you seem to give up your initial idea and start assembling the film anew from the start. Unfortunately, the institute where I study does not have a separate faculty for film editing and we, the directors, have to edit our films. For documentary filmmakers, it’s a heavenly process, but for feature films, it’s a bit tricky.”

Participating with “Avtona” in the Ismailia Documentary Film Festival led to her first visit to an Arab country and her first long trip outside Armenia. Ani felt glad about her participation and she mentions: “The festival was very colorful. Every film was better than the other. I discovered numerous things related to technical issues and the plot of works, which I will definitely utilize in the future. Such a gathering creates a great opportunity to meet new people. Sometimes they become the beginning of great collaborations.” She added that “we were warmly received by the people responsible for the festival and nicely treated by everyone there. From the very first day, we got close to the volunteers who revealed Ismailia to all the participants. Whenever we had a little free time, we walked around the city. People were friendly and when they found out that I came from Armenia, they tried to remember something pertaining to this country. Undoubtedly, with such nice impressions and longing, I will return again to discover more of Egypt and its original culture.”

This is the second consecutive time Armenia has been part of the festival. Last year, the Armenian director Garush Ghazaryan took part with “My Black Heart.” “Garush is one of my friends. Thanks to his advice I joined the events. We study at the same institute and he shared with me very positive opinions about the festival. I am very happy I also became a part of it,” she said. About the significance of Armenian participation in the Ismailia festival, she said: “This time, my work was a documentary, while last year, Garush’s was a feature film. I highly appreciate the efforts made by creative young people in Armenia to present their films to various public audiences and in different countries. I hope for the presence of Armenian films to continue in the Ismailia annual celebration.” (See my article in last year’s Mirror-Spectator.)

Ani is pleased to see the documentary genre developing in Armenia and the endeavors of the new generation in this field. She sees it is important, taking into consideration that this category of films presents the Armenian nation to the world, and says that the more such films are made, the richer will be culture [in general]. She also emphasizes that “We should recognize and protect the people living in our country, including the Yezidi community. One of the means to do so is documentaries and this highly encouraged me to work on the film ‘Avtona.’”

Passionate about her work, yet also about her studies, Ani decided to obtain a master’s degree majoring in feature directing from the Yerevan State Institute of Theater and Cinema. This graduate study is supervised by Edgar Bagdasaryan. She thinks that simultaneously with constant immersion in the creative process, she needs additional knowledge. “Each of us is learning until the end of our life. Since my undergraduate years, I made up my mind that I would continue for a master’s degree. Knowledge acquired academically plus practical work gives rise to thoughts consonant with the times, and also to innovative ideas for new films.”

She received much help at the Yerevan Institute from colleagues, and in particular from her professor Ruben Grigoryan, on “Avtona,” because it was a film that was part of her coursework. She said: “It provided support through its facilities and filming equipment. Studying here is pleasant and we are given the right orientation, which is the most important thing.”

At the same time, she observes, “Self-education is also very important. There are many very famous directors who did not receive a higher education, but they shot fantastic works.”