Director Aram Shahbazyan said during a conversation with www.aravot.am that he would start a hunger strike, and the reason was that Ministry of Culture was not financing his Chghchghik film more than 10 years. On the morning of August 22, he really started a hunger strike at the entrance of the Ministry of Culture, with posters of “Who stole the Chghchghik,” “Clean the art from the bureaucracy “and “Unlimited Hunger Strike.”
Chghchghik is the production of four countries: Armenia, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany. In 2003-2006, the film won a $ 75,000 grant and 110000 Euros grant for the filmmaking support program of the Armenian National Cinema Center. Producers are Ara Mnatsakanyan and Melik Karapetyan. The post-production work of the film is incomplete and despite it, the film center has adopted it in its balance and, according to Aram Shahbazyan, “solve” documenting issues. Details are in the video.
Minister Hasmik Poghosyan made a decision to provide additional funding for the Chghchghik to complete the production work, according to which the film center transferred 3382500 drams to “Mosfilm” for digitizing the film rolls and moving them to Armenia. In 2017, the National Cinema Center Council of Armenia has again debated the quality of the film and has again decided to cover the production costs and finish it.