In memoriam Arzach, viva Arzach!

Si le vent tombe (Should the Wind Drop)
Nora Martirosyan, France, Belgium, Armenia 2020, 100 min., French and Armenian original version with English subtitles, DCP

Appelé (Drafted)
Louise Martin Papasian, France, Armenia 2021, 11 min., Armenian original version with English subtitles, DCP

The population of the de-facto-state of Artsakh is hoping for international recognition by means of opening an airport in their capital. The French airport inspector Alain is supposed to prepare the final report for approval. Si le vent tombe by Nora Martirosyan has now become, just two years after its release, a document of lost hope and lost life: magical, ambiguous and staged with devotion and humility.

The essayistic documentary film Appelé portrays the young Armenian recruit Vahag. At the time of making the film, each new recruit was appointed, via lottery, to serve in either Armenia or in the more dangerous Arzach. 

Louise Martin Papasian is a French filmmaker and programmer of Armenian origins who lives between Marseille and Donostia, where she is studying the Master’s degree in Film Creation at Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola. Her current work focuses on the construction of identity, and explores the relations between word, history and territory.