A Story of People in War and Peace
Encyclopedia
A Story of People in War and Peace is a 2007 Armenian documentary film about Armenian filmmaker Vardan Hovhannisyan
personal understanding of the human costs of war. Prompted by a question from his son, Hovhannisyan embarks on a journey to find his surviving trench mates from the Nagorno-Karabakh War
of the early nineties with neighboring Azerbaijan and examines the lasting effects of the war during a time of peace. Timely and universal, A Story of People in War and Peace wrestles with the question of how to maintain dignity in the face of terror.
Tribeca Film Festival
Executive Director Peter Scarlet comments '... what the film offers is something quite remarkable: it's made by a filmmaker who covered the war at the time, and who inter-cuts his old footage with interviews he's filmed now with the surviving soldiers ... it succeeds heartbreakingly in driving home the fact that somehow we know that nothing justifies the fact of taking the precious, irreplaceable life of even a single human being.’
Historians cite the Karabagh war (1989–1994) as one of the first signs of the Soviet Union
's collapse. Vardan Hovhannisyan
, front line journalist and former prisoner of war, Vardan Hovhannisyan
, lived alongside soldiers, doctors, nurses, villagers, and children caught in the conflict, capturing their immediate thoughts, impressions and last words to their families. He spent years processing his war experience before finally making A Story of People in War and Peace. He does not emphasize the political side of the conflict, but the psychological effects the war had on the young soldiers. He juxtaposes chaotic and terse frontline images of 12 years ago with panoramic shots in fixed frames of the beautiful scenery today. But all this calm is an illusion, as one soldier puts it.'
–International Documentary Festival Amsterdam(IDFA).
The film has won numerous awards and has been shown in film festivals all over the world including IDFA (Amsterdam), Barcelona Film Festival, One World Film Festival
(Prague), Doc Aviv (Tel Aviv), Al-Jazeera Film Festival, Zagreb Film Festival
, Hot Docs
(Toronto), Belfast Film Festival
and Tribeca Film Festival
(NY), Mexico International Film Festival (Rosarito), etc.
Vardan Hovhannisyan
Vardan Hovhannisyan is an Armenian director and producer.From 1988 to 1991, Vardan Hovhannisyan was a freelance cameraman and covered the hot regions and ethnic conflicts related to the post-Soviet transition for the international news. He was twice captured as a prisoner of war during the...
personal understanding of the human costs of war. Prompted by a question from his son, Hovhannisyan embarks on a journey to find his surviving trench mates from the Nagorno-Karabakh War
Nagorno-Karabakh War
The Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the small enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by the Republic of Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan...
of the early nineties with neighboring Azerbaijan and examines the lasting effects of the war during a time of peace. Timely and universal, A Story of People in War and Peace wrestles with the question of how to maintain dignity in the face of terror.
Tribeca Film Festival
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
Executive Director Peter Scarlet comments '... what the film offers is something quite remarkable: it's made by a filmmaker who covered the war at the time, and who inter-cuts his old footage with interviews he's filmed now with the surviving soldiers ... it succeeds heartbreakingly in driving home the fact that somehow we know that nothing justifies the fact of taking the precious, irreplaceable life of even a single human being.’
Historians cite the Karabagh war (1989–1994) as one of the first signs of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
's collapse. Vardan Hovhannisyan
Vardan Hovhannisyan
Vardan Hovhannisyan is an Armenian director and producer.From 1988 to 1991, Vardan Hovhannisyan was a freelance cameraman and covered the hot regions and ethnic conflicts related to the post-Soviet transition for the international news. He was twice captured as a prisoner of war during the...
, front line journalist and former prisoner of war, Vardan Hovhannisyan
Vardan Hovhannisyan
Vardan Hovhannisyan is an Armenian director and producer.From 1988 to 1991, Vardan Hovhannisyan was a freelance cameraman and covered the hot regions and ethnic conflicts related to the post-Soviet transition for the international news. He was twice captured as a prisoner of war during the...
, lived alongside soldiers, doctors, nurses, villagers, and children caught in the conflict, capturing their immediate thoughts, impressions and last words to their families. He spent years processing his war experience before finally making A Story of People in War and Peace. He does not emphasize the political side of the conflict, but the psychological effects the war had on the young soldiers. He juxtaposes chaotic and terse frontline images of 12 years ago with panoramic shots in fixed frames of the beautiful scenery today. But all this calm is an illusion, as one soldier puts it.'
–International Documentary Festival Amsterdam(IDFA).
The film has won numerous awards and has been shown in film festivals all over the world including IDFA (Amsterdam), Barcelona Film Festival, One World Film Festival
One World Film Festival
One World is the biggest human rights film festival in the world, held annually in Prague and other cities of the Czech Republic. Established in 1999 by the Czech NGO People in Need, the presents over 100 documentary films during nine days in Spring from around the world...
(Prague), Doc Aviv (Tel Aviv), Al-Jazeera Film Festival, Zagreb Film Festival
Zagreb Film Festival
Zagreb Film Festival is an annual film festival established in 2003 and held in Zagreb, Croatia.The festival features three separate international competition programs , and one competition program for short films made by Croatian authors...
, Hot Docs
Hot Docs
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is North America's largest documentary film festival, conference, and market, held annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada...
(Toronto), Belfast Film Festival
Belfast Film Festival
Founded in 1995 by author Laurence McKeown, in its early stages of development the West Belfast Film Festival was part of Féile an Phobail. In its third and fourth year, it was autonomous and under the stewardship of Michele Devlin and Laurence McKeown, the Film Festival ran as a citywide event...
and Tribeca Film Festival
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
(NY), Mexico International Film Festival (Rosarito), etc.
Awards and nominations
- Tribeca Film Festival, NY - Best New Documentary Filmmaker
- IDFA - Nomination for the Joris Ivens Award at the FIPRESCI prize
- Mexico Festival - Special Jury Prize
- Trieste Film Festival - Audience award
- ZagrebDox Film Festival - Special Mention in the International competition
- Docaviv Film Festival - Special mention award
- Golden Apricot Film Festival - Best Intl. Documentary
- DOCSDF Intl Doc Film Fest in Mexico – Special mention of the jury
- Saratov Film Festival, Russia - Special mention of the jury
- Cancun Riviera Maya International Film Festival - Best Documentary
- Asia Pacific Screen Awards - nomination for Best Documentary Feature Film
- Amnesty International Film Festival - Movies that Matter Foundation Nomination
- Golden Apricot Film Festival - Silver Prize Armenian Panorama
- War Film Festival Russia – Best Documentary