YEREVAN — “Nowhere”, an award-winning and Academy-Award-qualifying short film from Armenia by Garin Hovannisian, is now available for streaming on YouTube. Hailed as “the best short film of the year” by The Jerusalem Post and “a twisted fairytale for our time” by LA Weekly, “Nowhere” is a 12-minute black-and-white film set in the city of Nowhere, where shadows dream of a life without their human masters — and finally declare their independence.
The film recently completed a successful festival run, winning “Best of Fest” at the Oscar- and BAFTA-qualifying LA Shorts International Film Festival (United States) and “Best Experimental Short” at the Short Encounters International Film Festival (Greece). It was also screened at 11 festivals in total, including the Odense International Film Festival (Denmark), Cinequest Film and VR Festival (United States), and RiverRun International Film Festival (United States).
“On its face, ‘Nowhere’ is a simple fairytale — a love story,” said Garin Hovannisian, the writer, producer, and director of the film. “But hidden under it is something a little darker and more complicated than that: an allegory of freedom — a parable about so many people struggling across the world.”
“Nowhere” was written, produced, and directed by Hovannisian, produced by Alec Mouhibian, co-produced and with cinematography by Suren Tadevosyan, ACG. The VFX producer of the film is Vasil Shahbazyan and the associate producer is Anush Ter-Khachatryan. The film features production design by Tigran Asaturov, music by Andranik Berberyan, and costume design by Narine Sahakyan.
Hovannisian is a writer, filmmaker, and illusionist who lives in Yerevan. His films include 1915 (2015), which won Armenia’s top film prize; I Am Not Alone (TIFF 2019), an official selection of the European Film Awards, IDA Award nominee, and winner of AFI Fest and DOC NYC; Truth to Power (Tribeca 2020); Invisible Republic (GAIFF 2022), and City of Cards (2023). He produces his films through Avalanche Entertainment, a production company he founded with Alec Mouhibian. He is also the author of Family of Shadows and has written for The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and The Atlantic.
Garin is also the founder of the arts foundation Creative Armenia and the incubator Artbox.
