The film "Emptiness" by RAU graduate in Film and TV Direction and Master's student in Theory and History of World Literature Tigran Aghajanyan won Yerevan Short Film Festival 2022 and took 3 awards at once.

The graduation film "Emptiness" by RAU major in Film and TV Direction and Master's student in Theory and History of World Literature Tigran Aghajanyan won the annual 5th Yerevan Short Film Festival 2022 and took 3 awards at once: Best Short Film (national competition), Festival Director Award and Best Actor (David Hovakimyan).

"As I can see, the values of modern society are changing very fast; it is not clear what people want. Many of us do not have global goals... Emptiness is hidden behind our desires, that's why my film is called "Emptiness". The main character is in-between two worlds, real and unreal, trying to find answers to his questions. But when his wish comes true, he loses his chance and ends up with nothing... Why? Because there was emptiness behind his seemingly genuine desire. The main character could not distinguish reality from illusion, which led to the logical consequences," Tigran said.

The director of the film chose a post-apocalyptic setting. The shooting itself lasted two days and took place in Dilijan and in the village of Teghut, 10 km from Dilijan.

 

"The main role was played by a photographer from Dilijan, David Hovakimyan. He is not a professional actor, but I hope that he will continue to move in this direction, proving himself as an actor for a larger audience in the future. Our film had a budget close to zero, so I served not only as a director, but also as a cameraman, artist, etc.”

 

Speaking about Armenian cinema, Tigran stressed the importance of expanding the range of topics and the format of presenting this or that plot to the audience: “Topics presented in our films are very local and not always clear to a foreign audience. I am not against the local Armenian flavor; on the contrary, I think that Armenia should be introduced to the world. However, topics should be universal. So, the situation itself can be local, but any local topic can be expressed in such a way that even people as far away as in Africa can understand it."

It should be noted that the 5th Yerevan Short Film Festival was held in Yerevan from October 7 to 10. The festival accepts short feature films and documentaries in two categories: National Competition and International Competition.

The mission of Yerevan International Short Film Festival is friendship and cooperation among filmmakers from all over the world. Its goal is to create a platform for showing the best short films from around the globe and to promote the film industry in Armenia.

 

 

Translated by Sofiya Safaryan,
I year Master’s Student in Translation & Interpretation, RAU