RETURN OF THE POET (16+)

Armenia, 2005, color, 84 min.

Director: Harutyun Khachatryan

A tribute to 19th-century poet Ashugh Jivani, whose work is rooted in the deep culture of Armenia. The film shows how a monument to Jivani is created from stone and taken to his native village of Kartsakh by truck, traveling along Armenian roads. Khachatryan crafts a sensuous, almost transcendental cinematic poem. Sound, image, and music merge into a hymn to the Armenian land and its people – a portrait of contemporary Armenia, as if seen through Jivani’s eyes.

Harutyun Khachatryan

Harutyun Khachatryan was born on June 9, 1955 in Akhalkalaki (Georgia) into a military family. He graduated from the Faculty of Film Directing at the Khachatur Abovyan Yerevan State Pedagogical Institute (1981, Yuri Yerznkyan’s workshop). Since 1979, he has worked at the Armenfilm studio as an assistant director, DoP, and later as a director.

Founder of the Debut Film Festival (1991). Head of the Culture and Science Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia (1993–1994). Founder of the Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival (2004), awarded the “Golden Globe” by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (2009) and the FICTS Plate D’Honneur by the International Federation of Cinema, Television and Sports (2010). Winner of the State Award of the Republic of Armenia (2003). Meritorious Artiste of Armenia (2006). Member of the European Film Academy (since 2006). Recipient of the Prince Claus Award (2007, Netherlands), Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters (2008, France), and the Rob Nilson Award from the Independent Filmmakers Alliance (2010, USA), among others. Multiple prize-winner at international film festivals.