Award winning film puts spotlight on Armenian war

New foreign film puts spotlight on Armenia

A popular international movie is spotlighting the history of Armenia while bringing awareness to the conflict of war in the country.

LOS ANGELES - A popular international movie is spotlighting the history of Armenia while bringing awareness to the conflict of war in the country.

The movie ‘It’s Spring’, based on the 2016 war in Armenia, follows three generations of a family as a young musician is torn between his future and his duty to protect his country.

Lead actor and executive producer, Alexander Khachatryan, says it's more than just a war movie, it's about showing love for your country.

"The world doesn’t know us. To create a film through which we can showcase Armenia, Armenian culture and who we are as people is what we wanted to do. And even though we’ve been around for centuries, and we are indigenous to the area, many people don’t know about us," Khachatryan said as his daughter interpreted.

While the movie is about the 2016 war, it directly relates to the events of the second Nagorno-Karabakh War which erupted between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2020. During the 44-day war, thousands of servicemen and residents in Artsakh died after Azerbaijan launched a full scale war on the small Christian nation.

"The war scenes were actually filmed after war of 2020 and in the film what they're doing is presenting the difference between a soldier and just a killer. A soldier is someone with a mission to protect and a killer is just someone who basically is destroying things."

SUGGESTED:

Khachatryan says the film brings global attention and awareness to what is currently happening in Armenia and Artsakh while also spotlighting culture and history.

The movie, which premiered in spring of 2022, can only be watched at foreign film festivals… however, two public screenings are scheduled in Los Angeles.

The first screening is set for Jan. 20 at 7 p.m. at the Armenian Society of Los Angeles on Louise Street in Glendale. The second screening will occur Jan. 27. Tickets are available online.

The film won several awards including best feature film, best actor, best director, best cinematography and best music.