List of Armenian film directors

Last updated December 15, 2024

Below is a list of well-known Armenian film directors

From Armenia

Davit Gharibyan (1990), Social video maker: best known social video "Armenian genocide: We Remember and Demand 106" (2021).^[1]
Hamo Beknazarian (May 19, 1891 – April 27, 1965), pioneer of Armenian cinema: best known for "Namus" (1925).^[2]
Frunze Dovlatyan (May 26, 1927 – August 30, 1997), Armenian film director born in Gavar, Armenia. One of his most famous works are "Hello, That's Me!" (1967).^[3]
Sergei Paradjanov (January 9, 1924 – July 20, 1990), Armenian film director born in Tbilisi, Georgia. His most famous works are Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965) and The Color of Pomegranates (1969), one of the greatest masterpieces of the 20th century, a biography of the Armenian troubadour Sayat Nova written and directed by Paradjanov.^[4]
Mikhail Vartanov (1937–2009), documentary filmmaker: best known film Parajanov: The Last Spring .^[5]
Artavazd Peleshyan (born 1938), documentary film director, best known film Seasons of the Year (1975).^[6]

From Diaspora

Gariné Torossian, Canadian/Armenian
Jerzy Kawalerowicz (19 January 1922 – 27 December 2007), was a Polish film director and politician, having been a member of Polish United Workers' Party from 1954 until its dissolution in 1990 and a deputy in Polish parliament since 1985 until 1989.^[7]
Rouben Mamoulian ^[8] (October 8, 1897 – December 4, 1987), Armenian-American film and theatre director. Born in Tbilisi, Georgia (ruled at that time by imperial Russia) to an Armenian family. He directed movies Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), The Mark of Zorro (1940), Blood and Sand (1941). Oklahoma! (1943), Carousel (1945) and Lost in the Stars (1949). He directed the first three strip Technicolor film Becky Sharp (1935).
Atom Egoyan (born July 19, 1960), critically acclaimed Armenian-Canadian film maker, known as one of the most remarkable figures of contemporary independent filmmaking.^[9] His work often explores themes of alienation and isolation, featuring characters whose interactions are mediated through technology, bureaucracy or other power structures, as Exotica (1994), The Sweet Hereafter (1997) and Ararat (2002). Egoyan was born Atom Yeghoyan in Cairo, Egypt, the son of Shushan (née Devletian) and Joseph Yeghoyan, artists who operated a furniture store.^[10] His parents were Armenian-Egyptians.
Aram Avakian, American film director and editor (April 23, 1926 – January 17, 1987) Editor: See it Now, Sin of Jesus, Mickey One, Lilith, Miracle Worker, etc. Director: Jazz on a Summers Day, End of the Road, 11 Harrowhouse, Cops and Robbers, etc.
Anna Melikian (born February 8, 1976, Baku, Azerbaijani SSR, Soviet Union), Russian-Armenian film and TV director/ producer whose work has been recognized with several awards. After her participation at Sundance Film Festival she was listed in the TOP 10 of most perspective film directors by Variety magazine.[1]
Robert Guédiguian (born 3 December 1953 in Marseille), film director, actor, screenwriter and producer. Like Marcel Pagnol and René Allio before him, he anchors his films in social reality, flirting with militancy. His films are strongly marked by the local and regional environment of the city of Marseille, and in particular L'Estaque, (north-west Marseille), for example in Marius et Jeannette (1997). He directed the movies Marie-Jo et ses 2 amours (Marie-Jo And Her 2 Loves) (2002), Le Promeneur du Champ de Mars (The Last Mitterrand) (2005), Le Voyage en Arménie (Journey to Armenia) (2006) and The Army of Crime (2009).
Hughes Brothers (born April 1, 1972), collective name for American twin brothers and film directors, producers and writers Albert and Allen Hughes. They are known for co-directing such visceral, and often violent, movies as Menace II Society and From Hell . Raised by their Armenian mother, Aida, they often talk about their Armenian background as a great support structure for their earliest film work, which began when they were 12.^[11]
Deran Sarafian (born January 17, 1958), Armenian American actor, film and television director. Sarafian has directed several episodes of the Fox series House and was made a co-executive producer of the show for the 2007/08 season. He also directed a Season 2 Lost episode, titled "?", and has directed for CSI: Crime Scene Investigation , CSI: Miami , CSI: NY , Cold Case , The District , Without a Trace , Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Nash Bridges .
Richard C. Sarafian (April 28, 1930 – September 18, 2013), Armenian American TV and film director. He is most popular for his film Vanishing Point (1971). He is the father of: Richard Sarafian Jr., Tedi Sarafian, Damon B. Sarafian, and Deran Sarafian.
Francis Veber, French film director of Armenian and Jewish heritage.^[12] He is the father of author Sophie-Audouin Mamikonian, who is Pretender to the Throne of Armenia.^[13] He directed extremely popular comedies such as Le Jouet (The Toy), starring Pierre Richard, Michel Bouquet, Fabrice Greco (1976), La Chèvre (Knock on Wood), starring Gérard Depardieu, Pierre Richard (1981), Le Dîner de Cons (The Dinner Game), starring Thierry Lhermitte, Jacques Villeret (1998), Le placard (The Closet), starring Daniel Auteuil, Gérard Depardieu (2000) and La Doublure (The Valet), starring Gad Elmaleh, Alice Taglioni, Daniel Auteuil, Dany Boon, Virginie Ledoyen, Kristin Scott Thomas (2006).
Mushegh Sarvarian (February 15, 1910 – August 13, 1981), Armenian-Iranian film director.
Ovanes Ohanian (October 1896 – 1960), Armenian-Iranian filmmaker, inventor, founder, doctor, scientist with PhD in medicine, film, science and languages.
Robert Ekhart (1935–1994), Armenian-Iranian, film director, and editor-in-chief.^[14]
Aramais Aghamalian (born 1953), Armenian-Iranian film director, and editor.^[15]
Varuzh Karim-Masihi (born March 24, 1952), Armenian-Iranian playwright and filmmaker.^[16]
Samuel Khachikian (October 21, 1923 – October 22, 2001), Armenian-Iranian film director, screenwriter, author, and film editor.^[17]
Henri Verneuil (October 15, 1920 – January 11, 2002), French-Armenian playwright and filmmaker.
Noura Kevorkian Armenian-Lebanese-Syrian writer-director-producer. She was born in Aleppo, Syria but grew up in Lebanon and is a Lebanese citizen. She studied Finance, Near and Middle Eastern Studies, and Cinema at the University of Toronto in Canada. Kevorkian is a filmmaker specializing in documentary and narrative genres for film and television. Her recent film BATATA won a prestigious Peabody Award, won the Best Feature Documentary (an Oscar-qualifying Tanit d’Or) at the Carthage Film Festival, the Human Rights Award at the Carthage Film Festival, the Amnesty Award at the Durban International Film Festival, the Audience Award TOP 10 Favourite Films at Hot Docs, and garnered three nominations in the 2023 Canadian Screen Awards.
Lev Kulidzhanov, film director and professor at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography
Ovannes Ohanian, first Iranian film director.

Related Research Articles

Atom Egoyan is a Canadian filmmaker. Emerging in the 1980s as part of the Toronto New Wave, he made his career breakthrough with Exotica (1994), a film set in a strip club. Egoyan's most critically acclaimed film is the drama The Sweet Hereafter (1997), for which he received two Academy Award nominations. His biggest commercial success is the erotic thriller Chloe (2009).

Sergei Iosifovich Parajanov was a Soviet film director and screenwriter. He is regarded by film critics, film historians, and filmmakers to be one of the greatest filmmakers of all time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artavazd Peleshyan</span>

Artavazd Peleshyan is an Armenian director of essay films, a documentarian in the history of film art, a screenwriter, and a film theorist. He is renowned for developing a style of cinematographic perspective known as distance montage, combining perception of depth with oncoming entities, such as running packs of antelope or hordes of humans. Filmmaker Sergei Parajanov has referred to Peleshyan as "one of the few authentic geniuses in the world of cinema". Peleshyan was awarded the title of Merited Artist of the Armenian SSR in 1979, and Merited Artist of the Russian Federation in 1995.

<i>The Color of Pomegranates</i> 1969 film by Sergei Parajanov

The Color of Pomegranates, originally known as Sayat-Nova, is a 1969 Soviet Armenian art film written and directed by Sergei Parajanov. The film is a poetic treatment of the life of 18th-century Armenian poet and troubadour Sayat-Nova. The film is now regarded as a landmark in film history, and was met with widespread acclaim among filmmakers and critics. It is often considered one of the greatest films ever made.

Mikhail Vartanov was a Soviet filmmaker and cinematographer who made significant contribution to world cinema with the documentary films Parajanov: The Last Spring and Seasons.

Deran Sarafian is an American film and television director and actor. He directed Death Warrant, Gunmen, and Terminal Velocity. He has been nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards.

The cinema of Armenia was established on 16 April 1923, when the Armenian State Committee of Cinema was established by government decree. The National Cinema Center of Armenia (NCAA), founded in 2006, is the governing body of film and cinema in Armenia. The NCAA preserves, promotes and develops Armenian cinematography and provides state financial support to full-length feature, short and animation projects. The Director of the NCCA is Shushanik Mirzakhanyan, and the headquarters are located in Yerevan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ovanes Ohanian</span>

Ovanes Ohanian was an Armenian-Iranian filmmaker, inventor, founder, doctor, scientist with PhD in medicine, film, science and languages. He established the first film school in the history of Iran. His first film, Abi and Rabi (1930) was Iran's first feature-length movie. He founded the first acting school in Iran and the first acting school in India together with the first police school in Iran. He was fluent in seven languages. He died of Heart attack in his office in Tehran. The museum in Tehran contains relevant information of his life.

Parajanov: The Last Spring is a 1992 award-winning documentary by the Russian-Armenian filmmaker Mikhail Vartanov, that also includes the complete surviving footage of Sergei Parajanov's unfinished last film The Confession, Vartanov's behind-the-scenes sequences of Parajanov at work on the shooting of the Color of Pomegranates and other material. Featured in 7th Annual Russian Academy of Cinema Arts Awards (1993).

The Sergei Parajanov Museum is a tribute to Soviet Armenian film director and artist Sergei Parajanov and is one of the most popular museums in Yerevan. It represents Parajanov's diverse artistic and literary heritage.

Varuzh Karim-Masihi is an Iranian-Armenian film director, film editor, and screenplay writer.

Tigran Yeghiayi Mansurian is a leading Armenian composer of classical and film music, People's Artist of the Armenian SSR (1990), and Honored Art Worker of the Armenian SSR (1984). He is the author of orchestral, chamber, choir, and vocal works which have been played across the world.

Paradjanov is a 2013 Ukrainian biographical drama film directed by Serge Avedikian and Olena Fetisova, about film director Sergei Parajanov. The film was selected as the Ukrainian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">3rd Yerevan Golden Apricot International Film Festival</span> Film festival

The 3rd Yerevan Golden Apricot International Film Festival was a film festival held in Yerevan, Armenia from 10–15 July 2006. The annual festival presented about 120 films from 43 countries. Participants included some of the most highly acclaimed figures of world cinema - such as Marco Bellocchio, Tonino Guerra, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Godfrey Reggio and Artavazd Peleshyan, who were honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards. More than 110 foreign guests attended the festival, which included filmmakers, actors, producers and distributors. The festival was covered by a number of international media, including Euronews and Arte. The international juries, headed by Moritz de Hadeln, Godfrey Reggio and Arsinee Khanjian, awarded the following prizes: Golden Apricot 2006 for the Best Feature Film to Hou Hsiao-hsien for his film Three Times, (Taiwan/China/France); Golden Apricot 2006 for the Best Documentary Film to Workingman's Death by Michael Glawogger, (Austria); and Golden Apricot 2006 for the Best Film in "Armenian Panorama" to The Dwellers of Forgotten Islands by Hrant Hakobyan, (Armenia).

Robert Ekhart was an Iranian film director, and editor-in-chief.

Joseph Vaezian was an Iranian Armenian film producer and director.

Seasons of the Year, also called The Seasons or Four Seasons, is a 1975 Soviet–Armenian short documentary film, directed and written by Artavazd Peleshyan. It was his second and last collaboration with cinematographer Mikhail Vartanov, after Autumn Pastoral (1971).

The Armenian Film Society (AFS) is an American film society dedicated to Armenian cinema.

References

↑ Davit Gharibyan
↑ Armenian cinema
↑ Armenian cinema
↑ Sergei Parajanov Archived 2015-04-24 at the Wayback Machine
↑ Mikhail Vartanov
↑ Artavazd Peleshyan
↑ "Jerzy Kawalerowicz" (in Polish). filmpolski.pl. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
↑ (Charles Earle Funk, What's the Name, Please?, Funk & Wagnalls, 1936.)
↑ Egoyan at IMDB
↑ "Atom Egoyan Biography (1960-)".
↑ "Book of Eli" Directors Talk About Their Heritage Archived 2011-09-29 at the Wayback Machine
↑ J'ai eu trop de succès, j'ai été puni
↑ Tara la sortcelière
↑ Sayyed Morteza Sayyed Mohammadi (1999). A Guide To Iranian Cinema Directors 1930-1999. Tehran: Simroo Publishing House. p. 40. ISBN 964-5685-35-4.
↑ Armenians And Iranian Cinema. Tehran: Film Museum Of Iran. Summer 2004. p. 92. ISBN 964-6728-44-8.
↑ Janet D. Lazarian (2003). Encyclopedia of Iranian Armenians. Tehran: Hirmand Publisher. p. 415. ISBN 964-6974-50-3.
↑ Abbas Milani (2008). "Eminent Persians". Syracuse, N.Y. pp. 1002–1006.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)

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[1] Davit Gharibyan

[2] Armenian cinema

[3] Armenian cinema

[4] Sergei Parajanov Archived 2015-04-24 at the Wayback Machine

[5] Mikhail Vartanov

[6] Artavazd Peleshyan

[7] "Jerzy Kawalerowicz" (in Polish). filmpolski.pl. Retrieved 21 April 2017.

[8] (Charles Earle Funk, What's the Name, Please?, Funk & Wagnalls, 1936.)

[Egoyan_at_IMDB-9] Egoyan at IMDB

[10] "Atom Egoyan Biography (1960-)".

[11] "Book of Eli" Directors Talk About Their Heritage Archived 2011-09-29 at the Wayback Machine

[12] J'ai eu trop de succès, j'ai été puni

[13] Tara la sortcelière

[14] Sayyed Morteza Sayyed Mohammadi (1999). A Guide To Iranian Cinema Directors 1930-1999. Tehran: Simroo Publishing House. p. 40. ISBN 964-5685-35-4.

[15] Armenians And Iranian Cinema. Tehran: Film Museum Of Iran. Summer 2004. p. 92. ISBN 964-6728-44-8.

[16] Janet D. Lazarian (2003). Encyclopedia of Iranian Armenians. Tehran: Hirmand Publisher. p. 415. ISBN 964-6974-50-3.

[17] Abbas Milani (2008). "Eminent Persians". Syracuse, N.Y. pp. 1002–1006.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)

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List of Armenian film directors

Contents

From Armenia

From Diaspora

Related Research Articles

References