CineCulture Screens “If Only Everyone”

Kara Statler

Staff Writer

On Friday, November 4, the Armenian Studies Program teamed up with the CineCulture series to screen the film “If Only Everyone” in front of a large audience in the Leon S. and Peter Peters Educational Auditorium at Fresno State.

Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian of the Armenian Studies Program was the invited discussant for the film and at the end of the screening reflected on the film and answered questions from the audience. Professor Mary Husain has included many Armenian films in the popular CineCulture series, which screens films on Friday nights for free for both a campus and community audience.

Directed by Nataliya Belyauskene, “If Only Everyone” is a film made in Armenia that was released in 2012 and deals with a young woman named Sasha (Yekaterina Shitova), who is searching for her father’s grave, so that she can plant a birch tree there. Her father, who was Russian, fought and died in the Nagorno-Karabakh war (also known as the Artsakh Liberation war).

In her search she encounters the leader of her father’s military unit, a man named Gurgen (played by actor Michael Poghosyan). She and Gurgen embark on their journey with two other men who had also fought in the same unit.

The film was selected as the Armenian entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards and deals with how the Karabagh war affected the two main characters. Sasha lost both her parents in the war, her mother died in the Sumgait massacre of 1988 and her father in Karabakh and so she wants to find closure to her feelings of loss and grieving.

Gurgen still has feelings of guilt for the death of his comrades, including Sasha’s father, as they died rescuing him. However, when Gurgen finally is able to locate Sasha’s father’s grave, it is not in Karabagh, but across the border in Azerbaijan. The journey there is dangerous, but Sasha and Gurgen succeed in crossing the border. They are confronted by an Azeri farmer, who after hearing the reason for their journey, reveals that his son also died in the war. The farmer releases them and Sasha decides to plant a tree for that man’s son as well. The sharing of grief is a poignant moment in the film.

“If Only Everyone” was shot on location in Armenia and Karabagh and featured beautiful cinematography. It was full of humorous moments, and also sad reflections.

“If Only Everyone” captured the attention of the audience through its realistic and authentic exploration of the human spirit.