OUTLIVING SHAKESPEARE

“The daily strains of old age disappear as elderly residents and a robot within an Armenian Soviet-era retirement home lose themselves in staging the timeless world of Shakespeare”

directed by INNA SAHAKYAN & Ruben ghazaryan

In an Armenian retirement home, a theater director sets out to stage Shakespeare's Sins with a cast of residents. In the play, Shakespeare's characters call him to account for their tragic fates. It's a story that in rehearsal sparks conversations about love, life, and loss. We follow the residents from casting to premiere. As the group grows closer, we see how the tragedies onstage are reflected in their own lives, which also feature love, betrayal, mourning, and exile.

One resident finds and loses her Romeo, another is cast out by her own son, and yet another, who had briefly returned to her home in Artsakh (the Armenian name for Nagorno-Karabakh) after the ceasefire of a war still present in the region-must come back to the retirement home following the forced displacement of the entire Armenian population by Azerbaijan. What begins as a light-hearted look at aging becomes an exploration of the loneliness and loss that so often accompany it.

The dilapidated Soviet-era retirement home itself plays a supporting role, with its peeling paint, prowling cats, and modern care robot all coexisting under the same roof.

a story of people in war and peace (2007)

directed by vardan hovhannisyan

Prompted by a question from his son, Hovhannisyan embarks on a journey to find his surviving trench mates from the Nagorno-Karabakh War of the early nineties with neighboring Azerbaijan and examines the lasting effects of the war during a time of peace. Timely and universal, A Story of People in War and Peace wrestles with the question of how to maintain dignity in the face of terror.

donkeymentary (2009)

Directed by vardan hovhannisyan AND ARMAN YERITSYAN

Lamu is a small island off the Kenyan coast with 24,000 people and 6,000 donkeys. It is also one of the world's only surviving centers of authentic Swahili culture. Here, donkeys are a part of daily life and the key to earning a living. 

Donkeymentary follows the life of a young boy whose fondest dream is to one day have a donkey of his own. 

the last tightrope dancer in armenia (2009)

Directed by inna sahakyan and arman yeritsyan

The Last Tightrope Dancer in Armenia tells the story of Zhora, 78 years old, and Knyaz, 77 years old, who were once the most celebrated tightrope dancers in Armenia. Today they are the only surviving masters who can keep the ancient art of tightrope dancing alive. They've been rivals their entire lives, but are now united by the same hope: that the last remaining tightrope student will carry on their lives' work. Hovsep, a 17-year-old orphan and Zhora's adopted son, must decide whether to continue dancing in a society that has abandoned the art. Now, with Zhora's death, this choice only becomes more difficult…

one, two, three / the chosen ones

directed by arman yeritsyan

Armenia’s only elderly dance troupe is practicing for their latest performance. But they are not just learning the steps to a new dance; they are learning that you are never too old to turn your life around. Mikhail (80) collects garbage from streets, yet he dances… Mariam (58) has just gotten out of a mental hospital, yet she dances… Anahit (64) puts flowers on the graves of the eight kids she has lost, yet she dances. They are all ‘The Chosen Ones’, a group of fifteen elderly and lonely people who dance to overcome their hardships and find a sense of meaning and joy in their lives once more.