GLENDALE — “Between Borders,” a new movie about an Armenian family who fled Baku after the pogroms of 1988, is being released in the US this week. It was screened at the AMC Theater in Glendale on Sunday, January 26, hosted by the Armenian Film Society (AFS), and with the participation of actress Elizabeth Tabish, writer/director Mark Freiburger, and producer Ken Carpenter. The question-and-answer was moderated by Armen Karaoghlanian of the AFS.
The film is based on the story of the Petrosyan family, who were forced to flee Baku due to the pogroms, go to Volgograd, Russia, and eventually move to the U.S.
Ivan and Violetta Petrosyan lived in Baku with their two daughters, Olga and Julia. Their families had lived in Azerbaijan for generations. Once the Karabakh independence movement began, the Azerbaijani government instigated pogroms in the Azeri cities of Sumgait and Baku, forcing the entire sizable Armenian population of Azerbaijan to leave.
The film starts in a U.S. Immigration Court in Washington, DC, where the Petrosyans are applying for asylum. As Ivan and later Violetta are on the stand and explain their plight and why they can’t return to Russia, tension builds up.
Elizabeth Tabish, who plays the role of Violetta, has an impressive portfolio and is known for playing Mary Magdalene in the Biblical series, “The Chosen.” Her grandmother was Armenian, and her father is Lebanese. During an interview on the opening night, Tabish said, “It was touching to meet [the real] Violetta after shooting a difficult scene.”
The film was shot in Romania and the Petrosyans visited two weeks and watched the production. Tabish added, “Being Armenian and playing this character who was protective and warm reminded me of my grandmother and great-grandmother. I felt they were with me.”