Hye Sharzhoom Armenian Action
Christine Pambukyan
Staff Writer
Photo: ASP Archive
From 1989 to 1994, there was a war between Karabagh and Azerbaijan over the status of the region of Karabagh, also known as Artsakh, located east of the Republic of Armenia and southwest of Azerbaijan. During this war, more than thirty thousand people died. However, despite the war ending with a ceasefire in 1994, the loss of lives and tension within the region did not subside. Many people continue to die from mines placed by Azerbaijani soldiers, who deliberately positioned them without documenting their location on maps, in order to further harm Armenians after the war.
Today, despite 25 years having passed since the cease-fire in 1994, tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan are still high over the land of Artsakh.
On Friday, March 29, 2019, at 5:30PM, CineCulture and the Armenian Studies Program screened the film “Yeva,” in the Leon and Pete Peters Educational Center at Fresno State. “Yeva” is the impassioned story of a women suspected of murdering her abusive husband. She then flees to Karabagh with her young daughter while she waits for her passport in order to escape to France.
“Yeva,” an award-winning 2017 film written and directed by Anahid Abad, was banned in Turkey because Karabagh is portrayed as Armenian land.
With a beautiful soundtrack filled with Armenian folk songs and touching piano and string music and the use of both Modern Armenian and the Karabagh dialect, the film walks us through the real-life experiences of Armenians who have seen both the war in Karabagh and its aftermath as we unfold the secrets of Yeva and her past. From the hospitality of the locals, to a wedding ceremony and later a funeral, the film perfectly encompasses the life of those who live in a war-zone, especially those in Karabagh.
Overall, the film was personal, sincere, and soul-stirring. Anyone planning to see the film should be advised to bring a box of tissues and prepare for a cliff-hanger ending typical of Iranian films.
Abad, born in an Armenian family in Tehran, Iran in 1969, was inspired to write and direct “Yeva” because of her own feeling of living as a minority in Iran and being seen as an outsider. Abad wrote, directed, and co-produced the movie and even traveled to Karabakh to film this authentically Armenian movie with an Iranian twist.
As a member of the Central Board of Assistant Directors and Program Planners Institute of Iran Cinema since 2006, and later head since 2010, Abad is working on a few more projects with Iranian Armenians.
CineCulture is a film series provider, campus club, and class with the goal of creating bridges in culture through film and dialogue. Every semester, for the past twelve years, CineCulture and the Armenian Studies Program have worked together to bring Armenian-themed movies to Fresno State and the community at large.
Dr. Mary Husain, Cine-Culture’s club adviser and instructor was actually a student in one of Professor Barlow Der Mugrdechian’s classes. From that first encounter the CineCulture-Armenian Studies relationship has grown to bring high quality Armenian films, at no charge, to the community.