Screenings
August 30 20:00
DEBATOUN GUESTHOUSE
Return to the Promised Land
Armenia, 1991, 80 min
no dialogue
Original Title: Վերադարձ ավետյաց երկիր
Director: Harutyun Khachatryan
Screenwriters: Mikael Stamboltsyan, Harutyun Khachatryan
Cinematographer: Arto Melkumyan
Composer: Avet Terteryan
Production Designer: Samvel Nahatakyan
Sound Engineer: Anahit Kesayan
Production Manager: Manvel Aleksanyan
Production Company: Hayfilm Studio
Having lost everything, the protagonists find a new home in one of Armenia’s deserted northern villages. There, they begin to cultivate the land, have a child, and build a new life under the difficult conditions of the early 1990s with the collapse of the Soviet Union very close and a mixed feeling of hope and coming horrors in the air.
On the occasion of Harutyun Khachatryan’s 70th anniversary, the Apricot Tree Film Festival pays tribute to the director by opening this year’s edition with one of his finest films.
Harutyun Khachatryan
Born January 9, 1955, in Akhalkalaki, Georgia. In 1981, he graduated from the Directing Faculty of the Armenian Pedagogical Institute’s Culture Department (Yuri Yerzinkyan’s workshop). While studying, he was also working at the “Hayfilm” studio as an assistant to cinematographer Albert Yavuryan. After graduation, he continued working in the studio first as an assistant cinematographer, assistant director, and second director. And finally, in 1985, he began making his own films, which have gained wide international acclaim since. In 1991, he founded the Debut Film Festival. In 1993-1994, he was working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia as the head of the Culture and Education Department. In 2004, he founded the “Golden Apricot” Yerevan IFF with Mikayel Stamboltsyan and Susanna Harutyunyan and became its director. In 2013, he became a People’s Artist of Armenia. Throughout the years, Khachatryan’s films have won numerous prizes at many international film festivals. Since 2017, he is the president of the Armenian Union of Film Professionals.
Filmography
The Voices of the District (doc., 1981), Hosted by the Commander (doc., 1985), Chronicle of an Event (doc., 1985), Three Rounds from Vladimir Yengibaryah’s Life (doc., 1986), Kond (doc., 1987), White Town (doc., 1988), Wind of Oblivion (1989), Return to the Promised Land (1991), Last Station (1994), Documentarist (2003), Return of the Poet (2006), Border (2009), Endless Escape, Eternal Return (2014), Deadlock (2016), Three Graves of the Artist (2022).