November 13: Armenians in Film: 6 Short Films by Armenian Filmmakers
Sponsors: Armenian Studies Program, Armenian General Benevolent Union, Greater Fresno Chapter, and AGBU Arts’ Armenians in Film Series
Doon: Directed by Sarine Arslanian
Through the ancient language of Armenian dance, renowned dance artist, Shakeh Major Tchilingirian invites us to listen with our hearts as she dances the stories never told, the grief too heavy for words, the love for a homeland many have never seen and the universal yearning to come home: to the body, to the self, to one another. Rooted in personal and collective memory, Doon is a cinematic offering to the body’s knowing and the subtle spaces where transformation begins – a creative act of remembrance, resilience and return – honoring the resilience of diasporic identity and the quiet power of embodied expression. In English, 6:57 minutes.
St. Vassily: Directed by Masha Egieva
USSR, 1982. Vassily is a devout and diligent student at the Theological Academy near Moscow, soon to become a priest. His orderly world falls apart when he is approached by a KGB agent who gives Vassily an ultimatum: to denounce his roommate or never become a priest. In English, 13:44 minutes.
Armenian Abode: Directed by Hrair Kalemkarian
Bound for Armenia, a family stopped in Bourj Hammoud, in pre-war Lebanon, and stayed. Sixty-five years on, a father walks these streets every day with his son beside him, calling on friends who fill the visit with stories, jokes, and legends whose origins have blurred into myth. A layered portrait emerges of a diasporic community weaving a permanent abode out of a transitory stopover, transforming this small corner of Beirut into a vibrant, lasting sanctuary of Armenian life. In Armenian with English subtitles, 22 minutes.
Land: Directed by Tsolak Mike-Galstyan
Land is a manifest of the pain and sorrow together with the hope and love to the Land. The movie delves deep into the human experience, portraying the anguish and heartache that comes with the struggles of war, displacement, loss, and longing. Yet, amidst the turmoil, it also celebrates the resilience, connection, and unwavering hope that ties people to their land, highlighting the beauty and love that persist even in the face of adversity. 9:14 minutes, no dialog.
Urish: Directed by Eva Rafaelyan
Urish is a fashion film and visual meditation on a Third Culture Kid whose childhood exists somewhere between memory and imagination. The film explores identity, home and the quiet dissonance of belonging everywhere and nowhere at once. In Armenian with English subtitles, 3 minutes.
The Space Between: Directed by by Kiri Manookin
When an American woman of Ottoman Armenian descent answers an ancestral call to move to Istanbul, she embarks on an intercontinental journey to confront the silence and shame surrounding her ancestral trauma. She doesn’t fully understand what she is chasing, only that her name, her history, and her emotional inheritance feel unresolved. Over the next few years, her journey takes her from Türkiye – a place some wanted her to approach with fear – and eventually to Armenia, where fate places her on a street and a stage that share her original surname. Suspended between identities, the filmmaker navigates inherited pain, belonging, and identity through emotional reckoning and deep cultural immersion. In English, 21 minutes.
All films screened on campus are free and open to the public. Parking enforcement is not in effect after 4 p.m. on Fridays.
CineCulture is a film series offered to Fresno State campus students, faculty, and staff, as well as the community. It’s also a campus club and a 3-unit academic course (MCJ 179) in the Media, Communications, and Journalism Department that fulfills the Multicultural International graduation requirement and General Education Integration Area Multicultural International (MI).
CineCulture club promotes cultural awareness through film and post-screening discussions. Fresno State encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact me in advance, if possible, regarding your participation.
CineCulture brings films and filmmakers from around the world to share their experiences, visions, and voices with our community. For 18 years, these films and post-discussions with directors, respected guest speakers, and local professors with relevant expertise have fostered and affected intercultural understanding of critical issues that deeply inform our local, national, and international awareness.