FAR FROM MICHIGAN

At the end of September 2020, Azerbaijani troops attacked the self-proclaimed republic, located on the territory of the state of Azerbaijan, with its Armenian majority population. After 44 days, with the war over, the area of Nagorno-Karabakh had shrunk from 12,000 to 3,000 square kilometres. Silva Khnkanosian keeps a film-diary, living alongside the people who spend the days of war and blockade in the basements of their houses, holding out for as long as they can. Many militant slogans of perseverance, prayers, the feeling of again being abandoned and always being the victim. Omnipresent is the constant threat of enemy bombs: "The Azerbaijanis love to bomb at dinnertime." The collective trauma of the genocide of 1915/16 is brought to mind; after all, Azerbaijan is now closely allied with Turkey. Artsakh, the Armenian name for Nagorno-Karabakh, is not internationally recognised by any country in the world; it is by the US state of Michigan however. After just 44 days of war, countless Armenians left the region. Today, another war later, the scenes depicted here could no longer be captured again. In September 2023, Azerbaijani troops conquered the entire region; the city is now called Xankəndi. Armenians no longer live here.

Text: Bernd Buder

10.11.2024 | 18:00 | Obenkino (original version with English subtitles)