ALL FILMS ABOUT LOVE
Karine Ohanyan The Demo Newspaper
Karabakh Open
Oct 4 2007
There is a dialogue in an old Russian film "Mimino": "What is this
film about? Again war?" "Nay, it’s about love." In fact, even if a
film depicts war, it is about love. Because every film should raise
universal issues and make the viewer think about the most important
things in life, good and evil, love and hatred. And the message of
a film should be love, no matter what it is about.
For two years now young journalists from Karabakh and Azerbaijan
involved in the Dialogue Through Films Project have been making
films about the war and not only. They make films with the help of
Internews Armenia and Internews Azerbaijan, which express their view
on war and peace, the conflict and the post-conflict situation. The
participants of the first stage of the project made 10 documentary
films, each made five. Soon these films will be shown on TV and a DVD
will be produced. In the second stage, in which five journalists from
Karabakh and five journalists from Azerbaijan are participating, both
individual and joint films will be made by the experienced participants
of the project. Recently the participants of the Dialogue Through Films
met in London to watch and discuss the new films, two by each party,
as well as the old films. The films were watched at London Institute of
Modern Art. There were representatives of international organizations,
participants of the conference on Karabakh which was held in London
on those days, the representatives of diasporas, as well as viewers
who bought tickets to cinema. Six films were shown, three by Karabakh
journalists and three by Azerbaijani journalists: "13 Years Later",
"Hard Nut", "Beetle Eaters", "Gone with Life", "Revival", "A Karabakh
Tale". All these films tell about the war, the hardships it caused,
and the new life that started after the cease-fire. The display
of the films was initiated by Conciliation Resources which aims to
help settle conflicts in the world. The director of the project and
the representative of CR Jonathan Cohen said each of the films is a
mirror which shows the other side and oneself. The young journalists
show through these films how the war in Karabakh changed the life of
common people, the films tell about refugees, the disabled of the war,
not only with pain but also with humor to help understand the pain
and experience of people living on the other side better, he said.
At the end of the film "Revival" about the Azerbaijani soldier
who lost his eyesight in the war answers yes after a pause to the
question if he would fight if the war started again. Applause was
heard in the hall, and it became clear what the discussion would be
like. The speeches showed that the hall was "occupied" by young,
educated, well-groomed Azerbaijanis who felt obliged to announce
once again about 20 percent of territories, one million refugees,
Karabakh as a native Azerbaijani territory, Armenians as aggressors,
and the like. It turned out that this group of boys sponsored by
the son of an Azerbaijani oligarch, frequents similar events and
enriches them with patriotic moods. BBC’s Tom de Waal who attended
another similar show of films wrote in his "Black Garden" there were
a group of young Azerbaijanis in the hall who said to have come there
to fight for Karabakh. The paradox is that their generation is more
aggressive than the generation of soldiers who fought in Karabakh,
and the Azerbaijani media have shaped a monochromatic image of the
Karabakh conflict and incited hostility among them, he wrote. After
the display of films one of the Azerbaijani students told him they are
fighting with the Russians and not the Armenians. When he told him
about the assistance of the Soviet army to Azerbaijan in 1991-1992,
the Koltso operation and the fourth army, the young man looked
amazed. He was unaware of the recent past of his country.
Almost every second Azerbaijani in London said they come from Shushi.
They all spoke aggressively, and were reluctant to hear others’
opinion. Meanwhile, the Armenians and the representatives of the
international NGOs sighed, bored with this continuous annoying
rhetoric. One of the Armenians said after the discussion, "We are
nevertheless different" and "Do the representatives of international
NGOs see these differences when they tell us to live together?"
The project of films is aimed to make the journalists making films
think and make others think that war is bad. And even though we are
so different, we have to live side by side, and being different does
not necessarily mean fighting and destroying each other.
One of the recent films made by journalists from Karabakh is entitled
"All Films about Love". It is the story of an Azerbaijani woman who
married an Armenian man from a Karabakh village and they still live in
her husband’s village and love each other. They suffered a lot, their
daughter was killed by a jealous Armenian before the war, and their
son was killed by an Azerbaijani during the war… But like in all
the good films, love and humanity are stronger than evil and hatred.
What are the personages and authors of the films of the Dialogue
through Films project who survived the war and hardship going to
discuss? Will they be able to overcome insult and hatred? Perhaps
they will. Because the films made in the framework of this project
are not about the war. They are about revaluation, values, good and
beauty. It means they are about love…