Anahit Simonian

A film made of objects, faces and texts; of lost cats, of found pictures, cut-outs, recreations; a poetic subversion in diary form, one that breaks the calendar into a novel, driving relentlessly as a journey to the end of the world.

How to film a word? How to hear a photograph? How to tell a lifetime of love in just 26 words? In searching out the sense of beauty, the border between the real world and that of reverie, fascinated by the dreamlike universe of the French photographer Guillaume Poussou -and who knows- maybe also by the photographer himself, Anahit Simonian takes up her camera for the very first time and begins to dance with her eyes closed. So is born “L'Abcdaire de l'amoureuse d'un photographe”, her first film.

This film traces the unbelievable true story of the Calderón family, who built grand movie palaces in Mexico and the U.S., employing thousands to produce incomparable, hugely successful, and often reprehensible populist-genre films that were utterly and uniquely Mexican.

Namus (Armenian: Նամուս, meaning "honor") is a 1925 silent film by Hamo Beknazarian, based on Alexander Shirvanzade's 1885 novel of the same name, which denounces the despotic rites and customs of Caucasian families. It is widely recognized as the first Armenian feature film.

The filmmaker visits the house of his ancestors with the invocation of family photographs and the voice of his parents. A journey into memory through everyday objects and spaces which seem to remain untouched by the passage of time.