Armenian Cinema 100
One hundred years ago, on April 16, 1923, the government of the Soviet Union adopted the decision to establish a film production facility in the former Soviet Republic of Armenia. In 1925, Hamo Bek-Nazaryan returned to Armenia in order to make that decision a reality.
At the start of 2023, TUMO Studios and the National Cinema Center of Armenia convened in one of the buildings in Yerevan whose age is the same as that of Armenian cinema to start their collaboration dedicated to the centenary of Armenian cinema.
The hundred year history of filmmaking in Armenia inspired many Studios students this year. They joined an atelier dedicated to creating highly original pieces inspired by Armenian film that would form a collection of souvenirs dedicated to the hundredth anniversary of Armenian cinema.
Under the leadership of visual artist and graphic designer Kristina Sargsyan, the students started working on their pieces, each of which would magically reveal to their authors what kind of art piece, accessory or souvenir they would become.
That’s how our Armenian Cinema 100 collection was born.
Hello, It's me poster
Laura Khachatryan’s poster for, “Hello, It’s me” rings out with sharp notes and smooth transitions of the trumpet of jazzman Martin Vardazaryan, who was featured in the film.
This year, 57 years after its first screening, Frunze Dovlatyan’s masterpiece was shown again in Cannes. This is still the only Armenian feature film that has ever appeared in the Cannes Film Festival competition. It was included in the Cannes Classic program alongside films by Godard and Hitchcock.
These posters traveled from Pushkin 38 to the Croisette shore as tributes to the film based on the life, love story, and science of the physicist, Artyom Alikhanyan, who lived in Soviet reality. The prints found their place in the lives of movie lovers and seem to occupy a space that was waiting for them in the world of Armenian cinema.
Hello, It’s me (1966)
Frunze Dovlatyan
Magic lavash shadow theater
Against the background of a Saryan landscape, the strange old man said
“…the only happiness is in work and being lucky, in your motherland.”
After hearing these words, a young man named Naghash, the young hero of the 1973 animation Magic Lavash, returned to his home, cleared stones from his field, and cultivated and sowed a lavash-sized piece of land, which later rewarded him with a harvest.
This animated film, drawn in the color palettes of Saryan and Minas, was included in TUMO Studios students “must-watch” list. They were inspired to use this colorful fairy tale to create a shadow theater.
Everyone can bring the Magic Lavash story to life for children through the magic of light and shadow, and the shadow puppets created by our students Knarik Davtyan and Sofia Shamshin.
Magic Lavash (1973)
S. Andranikyan, N. Atajanyan
Mixed Movies Postcards
TUMO Studios students Anzhelika Ghazaryan, Dina Yeghiazaryan, and Vasili Kuleshov were able to fit the 1920s through the 2010s into ten postcards. How? By watching iconic movies and choosing the ones that best captured the spirit of each decade
During the course of this near century, we’re able to identify the most iconic film of each decade. As cinema is the synthesis of all arts, each of these films gives a collective description of the period and its morale and art.
The first collection of postcards is dedicated to the 1920s-1960s and includes films such as Hamo Bek-Nazaryan’s “Namus”; “Pepo” — a joint work by Hamo Bek-Nazaryan and Armen Gulakyan; Ghazaros Aghayan’s screen adaptation of the fairy tale “Anahit” directed by Hamo Bek-Nazaryan; “The Golden Calf” with its famous quote, “Even if my grandfather comes holding my father’s hand, I won’t give it,” directed by Moko Hakobyan; and the film “Triangle” by Henrik Malyan, which tells the story of five blacksmith friends.
The second collection includes iconic films from the 1970s-2010s like “Magic Lavash,” an animated film about boys growing up fast in the Armenian highlands, created by directors S. Andranikyan and N. Atajanyan. The film “Tango of Our Childhood ” by director Albert Mkrtchyan, tells us a story about the childhood of the director and his brother. Also in this collection are Levon Isahakyan’s film “Catastrophe,” which carried significant social importance in the 90s; “From The Life Of The Little Trolls,” an animated film about Moomitol, Snus Mumrik and the world’s last dragon, created by Naira Muradyan; and “Alaverdi”, a film by Maria Sahakyan about the life of Sona and Evridika.
The two sets of the “Mixed Movies” postcards are available online, at various bookstores in Yerevan, and at our shop on Pushkin Street.
Pins
Scene: people pass through the streets of historical Kharberd and throw long glances at the thin boy standing carelessly and staring up at the sky. They are saddened by the fact that the boy is different, timid, and an orphan, and then they move along. But Torik’s eyes unblinkingly follow the pigeons soaring in the blue sky in tune with Tigran Mansuryan’s epochal melody. Their flight is immortalized in the Armenian Cinema 100 collection, taking its place alongside Revaz’s lost sheep and Leonid Yengibaryan’s end of the longest road — the circus.
Movie lovers are now able to bring the smallest of details from these three films into their lives with Studios student Iliana Beglaryan’s pins inspired by them.
A Piece of Sky, 1980
Henrik Malyan
We Are Our Mountains, 1969
Henrik Malyan
Road to the Stage, 1963
Levon Isahakyan
Henrik Malyan
Keychains
In the film “The Men,” the power of friendship is strung around the love story of Aram and Karine. It was so strong it even stopped the trolley so Aram could hear Karine’s “I love you, Aram,” with the accompaniment of Robert Amirkhanyan’s Yerevan Rhapsody.
After the premiere of the film, men in Yerevan began to dress exactly like the characters from the film and use phrases and gestures from “The Men”, while women tried to be like the main character Karine, copying everything: hairstyle, clothes, shoes — even the heroine’s gait.
The story of this friendship and the power of love took its place among the centenary’s collection of souvenirs from the vantage point of Iliana Beglaryan and in the form of a keychain representing the film’s main symbol — a taxi sign.
Iliana created another keychain with the symbol of the sun dedicated to the film “Autumn Sun,” based on Hrant Matevosyan’s novel of the same name. The words of the main character, Aghun as she fights against her family, the world, her father, her husband and her village, have long since become quite popular, and after the film, and we later heard again in the voice of Anahit Ghukasyan:
“Don’t be so sweet that they swallow you, don’t be so bitter that they spit you out.”
These souvenirs were brought to life together with the Recycle Objects brand.
The Men, 1973
Edmond Keosayan
Autumn Sun, 1977
Bagrat Oganesyan
Triangle bag
The movie “Triangle” tells the story of the lives and friendship of five blacksmiths in Leninakan during a time of war and the years preceding it, told by the son of one the blacksmiths. It too has inspired our Studios students to embody its message in a unique design and made its way into the Armenian cinema souvenir collection.
Studios students Diana Yeghiazaryan, Vasili Kuleshov, and Anzhelika Ghazaryan created a bag with the symbol of this film about friendship and life. The Triangle bag design fuses that obvious symbol with nuanced details. Specifically, the bag resembles the shape of the forge, one of the significant settings of the film, and the aprons worn by the main characters.
It may be hard to believe, but the TUMO Studios atelier dedicated to the centenary of Armenian cinema lasted only two weeks. In this short period of time, visually distinct pieces came to life, inspired by Armenian films that have managed to travel the world. They entered the lives of movie lovers and became bestsellers in the Studios store.
The entire collection is available in the TUMO Studios online store and our shop at 38, Pushkin Street.