Presented by
Bread Garden Market and Little Village Magazine
DIALOGUE: Filmmaker Emily Mkrtichian in person
The Vino Vérité series features talented new voices and established filmmakers influenced by the vérité tradition in person to present their thought-provoking, chance-taking, and visually-arresting films. Each selection is paired with hand-selected wines from Bread Garden Market.
Tickets: $25 public / $20 members / $12 students. Includes wine tasting, film, hors d'oeuvres and filmmaker reception.
6:30 Hors d'oeuvres & wine tasting
7:00 Screening
8:45 Q&A + Reception with filmmaker, wine and dessert
"A powerful tribute to a former country, and a frustrating illustration of a people’s dream turned nightmare." — RogerEbert.com
"A bold act of narrative resistance" — Movable Fest
ABOUT THERE WAS, THERE WAS NOT
Taking its name from the traditional first line of regional fairy tales, There Was, There Was Not, fittingly bears witness to a place and people that will soon only remain in story. The Republic of Artsakh is an unrecognized country in the Caucasus region self-governing since the end of the Cold War, populated by ethnic Armenians but coveted by neighboring Azerbaijan. Here, in this uncertain place, four women build a life with the hope of making their home a better place: a political activist runs for office to change the corrupt politics of her city; a martial artist strives to bring Olympic gold back to her homeland; a domestic violence activist helps women despite receiving death threats for her work, and a single mother disarms landmines from the last war of independence.
When Azerbaijan invades and war begins again, what began as an observational meditation on women’s role after conflict becomes an urgent and intimate record of four women's lives interrupted once again by conflict. From taking up arms on the front lines, to fleeing their homes as refugees, we watch each woman’s life change irrevocably. When the war finally ends, most of their homeland has been lost and the women must find a way to rebuild with the little that remains. In the midst of this struggle for survival in a new reality, each woman sits down to tell the myth of their homeland which may not exist much longer.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Emily Mkrtichian is an Armenian-American filmmaker, multi-disciplinary artist and writer whose films touch on themes of memory, place and identity. Her evolving artistic practice reflects her upbringing in a displaced, diasporic family, and centers the decolonized narratives of women, especially from the SWANA region, as well as a deep commitment to the healing power of relational, ethical, collaborative storytelling.
Emily has been a Flaherty Seminar Fellow, a LA Arts Activation Fund recipient, A Locarno Film Festival development grant winner, a UnionDocs Summer Lab Fellow, and participated in the Torino Film Creative Producing Lab and has been supported by the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund, the International Documentary Association Enterprise Fund, Chicken & Egg Pictures and the HotDocs Cross Currents Fund.
True/False Film Festival (2024) — World Premiere