The Striking and Memorable Sofya Khandamirova

You said it right — striking and memorable. I feel at ease with my appearance. My individuality is far from modern beauty standards. As one of my teachers once said: “Sonechka, you have a face from the past century!”

For me, the question isn’t even whether my character is beautiful or not — the main thing is whether the story and the character are interesting. I don’t want to play stupidity and primitiveness. Does the story have meaning? — that’s what matters most. I don’t get any joy from just being in front of a camera and reciting lines. I’ve already compromised with myself in that way once and realized that I wouldn’t last long doing that. I even considered leaving the profession. But I love cinema, so no more compromises.

You acted in the melodrama “Memory of the Wind,” a joint project of French, Turkish, and Georgian filmmakers. You were cast in one of the leading roles, in part thanks to your knowledge of Turkish. Could you tell us how you came to learn Turkish?

I didn’t know Turkish before joining the project. I was the only Russian on the set, and I learned Turkish from scratch. Interestingly, after almost three months, I could already understand and communicate fairly well in everyday Turkish. It was a remarkable experience. My character’s name was Mariem, and my great-grandmother was also named Mariem — Mariem Vaganovna Khandamirova. By the way, the director of the film, Özcan Alper, is a Turk of Armenian origin. He belongs to the Hemshin sub-ethnic group of Armenians. This film was fateful for me. I thank God for the experience. I now understand what big cinema means — and had the honor to be part of it.

By the way, the main character of the film is Aram, an Armenian living in Turkey in 1943. He is a poet and journalist. At the end of World War II, Aram is forced to flee his homeland to avoid execution. The film tells the story of events that Turkey would prefer to erase from its history. Aram heads toward Georgia, and along the way, memories return to him — of a past he once tried to forget forever.

It’s said that you avoid publicity and rarely share details about your personal life. But today, I’d like to ask you to speak about your Armenian roots. The Khandamiryan family is a noble lineage from Artsakh. In Armenian cultural history, the Khandamiryan Theater in Shushi, founded in 1891 by Mkrtich Khandamiryan, is particularly well known. This European-style theater became a major cultural hub of the mountain town, welcoming touring troupes from Russia and Ukraine. Sadly, it was burned down in 1905 by Caucasian Tatars. Are you connected to this family?