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THE EXPERIENCE

As part of Genocide Awareness month, we are honored to present the feature documentary film There Was, There Was Not from director Emily Mkrtichian which follows four women living in the Republic of Artsakh, an unrecognized country reckoning with the aftermath of one war while on the precipice of another. Presented in partnership with MetroEast Community Media, following the film there will be a discussion via zoom with the director. 

ON SCREEN: There Was, There Was Not

2024. Directed by Emily Mkrtichian. Runtime: 94 minutes. 

THERE WAS, THERE WAS NOT follows four women living in the Republic of Artsakh, an unrecognized country reckoning with the aftermath of one war while on the precipice of another. In the midst of this uncertainty, four women build a life with the hope of making their home a better place. When war breaks out again, what began as an observational meditation on women’s roles after conflict becomes an urgent and intimate record of their lives interrupted once again by war. From taking up arms on the front lines to fleeing their homes as refugees, each woman’s life changes irrevocably. Their journey becomes the myth of a homeland lost forever, and the power of story to keep it alive.

Film is in Armenian with English subtitles. 

ON STAGE: 

Emily Mkrtichian (Director) – Emily Mkrtichian is an award-winning filmmaker and artist whose work explores alternative archives and visionary futures of the SWANA region across documentary, fiction, and expanded media. Her feature documentary There Was, There Was Not premiered internationally at the Mar del Plata International Film Festival, where it received the Audience Award and First Special Mention, and went on to screen at True/False, DOC NYC, SXSW London, and major festivals worldwide. The film won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Golden Apricot International Film Festival and was acquired by Watermelon Pictures for theatrical and digital release across North America. Her work has been described as “a fiery, feminist wartime fable” (Hammer to Nail) and “deeply felt and beautifully made” (Atom Egoyan). Mkrtichian’s previous films include the documentary short Motherland (Premiere Full Frame; Best Documentary Short at Copenhagen International Film Festivals) and the fiction short Transmission (Premiere BFI Flare). Her multimedia installation Luys i Luso, created in collaboration with Tigran Hamasyan, has been exhibited in museums, concert halls, and public spaces around the globe.  Her projects have been supported by Creative Capital, the Sundance Institute, Chicken & Egg Pictures, Canada Council for the Arts, Locarno, Visions du Réel, and UnionDocs, among others. She is currently developing Portals, a multidisciplinary moving-image project supported by Creative Capital. Mkrtichian is an Assistant Professor of Film and Media Arts at the University of Utah and works across diasporic and transnational contexts.