Armenian cinematography started with the filming of classic works of literature. “Namus” (1925, produced by A.Bek-Nazarian), is the screen version of Shirvanzade’s work about the old custom of parents deciding, even in childhood, with whom they will marry their children.
In 1935, the first film with sound was produced, “Pepo” (a play by G.Sundukian, produced by A.Bek-Nazarian), about the struggle between a deceived fisher and a merchant Zimzimow, who failed to pay off his debt to Pepo. The heroine of the film, Kekel, is a bright personification of women of this epoch.

In the film “The song of first love” (1958) we see a new type of heroine educated and working. But at the same time she inherits traditional stereotypes of women having moral purity and morals, suppressing their feelings and words, and being patient.

In film are analysed such films as “Triangle”(1967, scenario by A.Aivazian, producer H.Malian), “Mechanics of Fortune” (1986), “Strange Plays”(1988).

The cardinal changing of gender roles takes place in the film, “Black and White” (T. Khzmalian 1996). The events take place in indefinite place and time, and are metaphors about a village whose residents are all women. The only man who visits the village is the postman, who only brings news about the death of the women’s’ husbands. But when a man of
the “village husbands” comes back (he always remembered his fair haired woman from this outlying world) he becomes a stud-horse. If it is explained by some self-preservation mechanism, the finale (when the women drown him) is difficult to explain.

In a very paradoxical way this Armenian film is very humanistic. It grew out of a history of women having no rights and being killed any suspicion of infidelity existed. Only after 70 years Armenian cinema came to the story of an incomprehensible murder of man, and demonstrated the unconscious fears, which are connected with the image of women.

Thus we see that in the symbolic space of cinema men and women change places. Women easily reproduce man’s behaviour, they easily are transformed from sacrifice to violators, but they still don’t have the ability to express their ideas in words and to engage in dialogue. At first we see a monologue by a man, and later we see a monologue by a woman, but we never see a dialogue between man and woman.

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Armenian woman and politics [ rus ]
15 min, MiniDV, 2001

Director: Mariam Ohanyan
Executive Producer: Vardan Hovhannisyan
Cameraman: Ashot Mkrtshyan
Editor: Karen
Produced by: BarsMedia


The film “Armenian woman and politics ” addresses the problem of women’s political activity and views it against a background of the historical events of 20th century (the first Republic of Armenia, Soviet Armenia and Independent Armenia).
Three women (Perchui Partizpanian, Varvare Rotinian, Ekaterine Zalian) were elected to the Parliament of second convocation of the first Republic of Armenia. Diana Abgar, a prominent public and political figure, was appointed diplomatic consul of the Republic of Armenia in Japan. She had become a first woman representing Armenia at the international level.
The film analyzes peculiarities of women’s political activity during socialism and raises a question what happened to it after Armenia had gained independence.


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The Voices [ rus ]
15 min, BetacamSP, 2002

Director: Mariam Ohanyan
Executive Producer: Vardan Hovhannisyan
Cameraman: Vahagn Ter-Hakopyan, Levon Grigoryan
Editor: Armen Alexanyan
Produced by: BarsMedia

The film, “The Voices” presents works of art by female painters in their own words, enabling them to raise such issues as the woman and the society, female identity, and sexuality. The film is based on the works exhibited at Armenian Female Art exhibit in August 2002.

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