Elegy for a lost homeland

In keeping with its commitment to showcase powerful, thought-provoking documentaries, on November 7 the West Newton Cinema’s Directors Spotlight program presented There Was, There Was Not, the critically acclaimed film by writer and director Emily Mkrtichian. The screening was followed by a Zoom discussion with the director, moderated by Paul Boghosian, President of HarborSide Films. A reception followed the Q&A.

In 2018, Mkrtichian began work on a documentary exploring the daily lives and struggles of women in the Republic of Artsakh (also known as Nagorno-Karabakh). A breakaway state with an Armenian-majority population, Artsakh has long been claimed by both Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The film opens with beautifully composed vignettes of everyday life, alternating with sweeping views of lush hills and forests. The effect is quietly enchanting. Indeed, the film’s title, There Was, There Was Not, is the traditional opening line of Armenian fairy tales, the equivalent of “Once upon a time,…”

Soon, the film draws us into the stories of four women: Sveta, a single mother who supports her daughters by defusing bombs left from the previous war; Siranush, who challenges the entrenched patriarchy by running for a seat on the male-dominated city council; Gayane, who operates Artsakh’s only women’s center despite facing threats for her activism; and Sose, a judo champion and instructor, determined to represent Artsakh in the Olympics.

Two years after Mkrtichian began filming, Azerbaijan launched a surprise attack on Artsakh, and the director continued to film during the shelling. What begins as an observational, meditative exploration of women’s strength and perseverance becomes an urgent chronicle of survival, a witness to the devastation of losing a homeland and a testament to the enduring power of storytelling to keep it alive.

In 2023, the Republic of Artsakh fell to Azerbaijan, leading to the displacement and exodus of most of its Armenian population and the dissolution of the republic itself.

The film’s first half inhabits the “there was” of legends and fairy tales, the world that once existed, before literally disappearing and becoming the world of “there was not.”  

Yet stories resist erasure. There Was, There Was Not may be a beautiful elegy, but also an act of preservation. Intimate and meditative, it interlaces folk legends, personal narratives, love, and memory into a tapestry of cultural endurance and feminine strength.

In the post-screening conversation, Mkrtichian described these personal narratives as “alternative archives.” For her, the personal is political. She believes that her focus on the emotional and individual, rather than the geopolitical, is what gives the film its universal resonance. Viewers told her that they saw their own mothers and sisters reflected in the film.

Mkrtichian said she came to recognize how women in her own family had passed on history and knowledge through stories. Her intent with the film was to not dwell on the Armenian genocide and victimhood but to highlight empowerment. Indeed, There Was, There Was Not celebrates Armenian women, culture, and survival—and speaks powerfully to other nations and peoples who have endured war, ethnic cleansing, and genocide.