SAN FRANCISCO — The first Golden Gate Armenian Film Festival took place on Friday, November 15 to Sunday, November 17 at the charming “Vogue” movie theatre in the city’s Pacific Heights neighborhood.
The festival was launched to build and strengthen collaborations between the Armenian film directors and the Diaspora in the United States and to provide an opportunity both for the Armenians living in the Bay Area and the general public to enjoy the best selection of films created by Armenian film directors.
The festival night, opened with the full-length feature film “Yasha and Leonid Brezhnev,” by one of the best known Armenian film directors, Edgar Baghdasaryan. A live question-and-answer session with the director followed the screening. “Yasha and Leonid Brezhnev” is Armenia’s official submission to the Academy Awards 2025.
The three-day program presented the most recent, highly acclaimed art house Armenian movies including “Missak et Melanie Manouchian” by Katia Guiragossian, “Yasha and Leonid Brezhnev” by Edgar Baghdasaryan, “There Was, There Was Not” by Emily Mkrtichian, “Tonratun” by Inna Mkhitaryan, “Luka” by Jessica Woodworth (co-production between Belgium-Italy-Netherlands-Bulgaria and Armenia, with one of the key roles playing Samvel Tadevossian), “1489” by Shoghakat Vardanyan (Closing film) and two of the best movies of the recent years “Yeva” by Armenian-Iranian filmmaker Anahid Abad and “Aurora’s Sunrise” by Inna Sahakyan.
