The number of online platforms dedicated to Armenian cinema has increased by one. A new bilingual (Armenian-English) website has been launched, presenting the life and work of renowned Armenian film scholar, editor, and Honored Cultural Figure of the Republic of Armenia, Robert Matosyan (https://robertmatosyan.weebly.com/). The website features information about the periodicals he has edited, the books he has published, a list of films scripted by him, video interviews, photographs with Armenian and international film figures, his selection of the 10 best films of Armenian cinema, as well as photographs from the history of Armenian cinema.
Matosyan’s article “April 16 is Armenia Cinema Day” provides information about an interesting fact: “the first memorable historical footage was the funerary ceremony of Matheus II Izmirlyan in 1911 which had been considered lost for many years. By a wonderful providence, exactly ten years ago in the film archives of the city of Krasnogorsk near Moscow, my sons, Tigran and Samvel Matosyan, while looking for footage for their documentary film ‘Bryusov,’ noticed on the black and white screen of the editing table the familiar emblem of Pathé cinema company, as well as the title ‘Echmiadzin’ and the writing ‘Funeral Ceremony of Catholicos of All Armenians Matthew II.’”
Matosyan was born in 1945 in the city of Spitak. He graduated from the Journalism Department of Yerevan State University in 1968. While still a student, he worked in the university’s cinema-photo laboratory, providing illustrations for the Yerevan University newspaper. During his university years, he was drafted into the Soviet army but was discharged after a year and resumed his studies.
In his final year, Matosyan began working at the Armenian National News Agency — now known as Armenpress — as a special correspondent, while also serving as a department head at the Avangard newspaper.
From 1969 to 1990, he founded and edited the newspaper Film under the Armenian SSR’s Council of Ministers’ State Cinematography Committee, which later evolved into the Union of Cinematographers. In 1990, building on the foundation of Film, he launched Gegharvest (Art), the newspaper of the Armenian Republic’s Ministry of Culture. The following year, Gegharvest gave rise to a video magazine of the same name.
In 1996, Matosyan moved to St. Petersburg, where he contributed to the production of several cultural documentary films. In 2004, together with his sons Samvel and Tigran Matosyan, he founded the Cinematos company in Moscow, producing a number of documentary films. He returned to Yerevan in 2008 and was instrumental in founding +Kino magazine, initially serving as deputy editor-in-chief, later becoming editor-in-chief in 2012.
