Armenian Film Festival: 1489
Armenian Film Society
Join Armenian Film Society on Saturday, September 7 at LOOK Cinemas in Glendale for the Los Angeles premiere of 1489, followed by a Q&A with director Shoghakat Vardanyan.
About 1489
When a young Armenian soldier disappears at the start of the Nagorno-Karabakh war, his sister sets on filming their family as they navigate between hope and grief. Filming observationally on her phone, Shoghakat Vardanyan carves a surprisingly cinematic and raw portrait of her family during the months spent in limbo. As urgent as it is heart-breaking, 1489 is a reminder of the brutal reality of war and the very real human destinies behind the numbers quoted in headlines.1489 won the IDFA award for Best Feature Length documentary in 2023, as well as the FIPRESCI Prize. 76 minutes.
About 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 completed her studies at Music School, continued her education at the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan, and graduated in 2014 with a Bachelor's degree in Piano.
Shoghakat has performed classical, academic, contemporary, and experimental collaborative work 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 (Pots and Drums).
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.
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