Jivan Avetisyan’s “The Last Inhabitant” was nominated for the Best Film nomination at the 12th Toronto International Film Festival (Pomegranate Film Festival) held November 15-19.
“The Last Inhabitant" nominated for the Best Film at the Toronto Film Festival
STEPANAKERT, NOVEMBER 22, ARTSAKHPRESS:Out of 40 films, Jivan Avetisyan’s “The Last Inhabitant”, which is about the Karabakh conflict, announced the opening of the film festival on November 15. Among the honorable guests of the festival were Jivan Avetisyan, Atom Egoyan, Arsinée Khanjian, Dean Cain, Montel Williams and Eylin Khachaturyan.
At the award ceremony held on November 19, “The Last Inhabitant” was awarded the Best Film Prize. The director thanked the organizers of the film festival, who highly appreciated the work.
In his speech, the director also touched upon the difficulties of shooting a film in Armenia. “All this is a challenging struggle, and in that struggle you have to be able not to surrender and to move forward. In general, it is difficult to find co-producers who will love art and won’t be afraid of the coming problems. For instance, it is not easy to find actors who will be brave enough and who won’t be afraid of finding themselves on the “black list” of our neighbors, when it comes to films on Artsakh theme, ‘’ the director said and added, “I am glad that I could come the long way thanks to people who believed in me.”
The audience's enthusiasm was great. It was impressed with the film. “Many shots seemed to be extremely true to life. When Abgar and Ibrahim were drinking tea, the audience seemed to feel the taste and aroma of the tea. Many shots had strong subtexts and arose strong emotions,’’ one of the spectators said.
On November 14 ‘’The Last Inhabitant” was screened in Montreal, where it was warmly welcomed.
On December 1 at 21:00 the film will also be screened in Padua, at Multisala MPX Sala Giotto.
To remind, the film depicts the life in an Armenian village, evicted in the result of the Karabakh conflict. Abgar, the main character, stays behind all alone in a gradually shrinking enemy ring. He is waiting for his daughter, who has become a witness to her husband's murder by an angry mob and was hospitalized with a mental disorder. An Azerbaijani named Ibrahim, for finding and bringing Abgar's daughter, suggest that he work on the construction of a mosque. A few days later, Ibrahim finds the girl, named Yurga, in one of the psychiatric hospitals of Baku and brings her to Abgar.
