Vallex Garden Cinema Hall in Stepanakert, Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) hosted today the premiere of “Yeva” drama.

The Armenian-language film is a co-production between Armenia and Iran, written and directed by Anahid Abad. The film production was financed by the National Cinema Center of Armenia and Iran's Farabi Cinema Foundation.

The drama centers on a woman who aspires to leave the grim past events of her life story to oblivion. With her daughter, she flees the Armenian capital Yerevan and takes refuge at her relatives' home in the village of Artsakh. However, her past would not leave her at peace.

In an interview with Artsakhpress, film director Anahid Abad noted the core of the film is how war can distort human destinies, with its traces remaining in people’s heart throughout their whole life.

“The film shootings lasted for two months and were held in Stepanakert, Shushi, Kashatagh, Martakert, Martuni, with a short part of it filmed in Armenia in 2016. A professional film crew was involved in the film shooting. I am very impressed by the performance of the Artsakh people. Few people believed that this film would be screened, but we did it,” he noted.

Narine Grigoryan, playing one of the key roles in the film, says she incarnated someone completely different from who she is. “When I was watching the film, I did not imagine it was me playing the character. It is very pleasant to think you can also be that person. After this film, I realized I was afraid of nothing anymore. The film shootings were really a serious challenge for me,” she said.