1489

Shoghakat Vardanyan

Over 2 years, the director documented her parents and herself waiting to hear about the fate of her younger brother Soghomon, 21, a musician, who had disappeared in the front line of the brutal 2020 Nagorno- Karabakh war. Shoghakat Vardanyan, who had never studied filmmaking, took the phone, turning their grief into a film as an act of escape from the situation and the upcoming tragic news about her brother’s death. The film gets its title from the code 1489 – “Body of individual missing in action” – awarded to her brother’s remains. Although bitter, this number provided closure, which many families still lack. Refusing to look away and unflinching in the face of intense grief, Shoghakat crafts a raw and rare piece of first-person cinema, laying bare the human cost of geopolitics.

Armenia 2023, '76

DIRECTOR: Shoghakat Vardanyan

CAMERA: Shoghakat Vardanyan

MONTAGE: Tigran Baghinyan, Armen Papyan

PRODUCERS: Shoghakat Vardanyan

PRODUCTION: Shoghakat Vardanyan

FESTIVALS & AWARDS:

IDFA: Best Film Award, FIPRESCI Award (2023)

Trieste Film Festival: Best Documentary Award (2024)

Sofia Film Fest: Special Mention - Documentary Competition (2024)

Full Frame Fest: Grand Jury - Special Jury Award (2024)

Göteborg Film Festival (2024)

True/False Film Festival (2024)

FIFDH Geneva (2024)

First Look Film Fest at MOMI (2024)

Shoghakat Vardanyan

Shoghakat Vardanyan was born in 1993 into a family of artists in Yerevan, Armenia. By the time she was six decided to study music and become a pianist. She graduated conservatory in 2014 with a BA in Piano. Shoghakat has performed classical academic, and contemporary music as a soloist, a part of chamber ensembles, and an accompanist in Armenia, the US, Canada, and Europe. Since 2017 she has been playing free improvisations and became a part of the Contemporary Sound Orchestra of Yerevan.

In September 2020, the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) war erupted. When her family stopped hearing from her younger brother who was fighting on the front lines, she picked up her phone camera and started filming. This led to her debut film, 1489. Shoghakat never studied filmmaking. For 1489 she was awarded the Armenian Prime Minister's Award (which she refused because she believes the film should not have any political connections) in 2021; as well as the Work in Progress Grand Prix during the Golden Apricot Film Festival in 2022. The film also won the Best Film and FIPRESCI Awards at IDFA2023.

1489

Shoghakat Vardanyan

Shoghakat Vardanyan

FilmFreeway