The
first Armenian movie, called “Armenian Cinema” (Հայկական սինեմա), was
filmed in 1912 in Cairo (Egypt). In the same year, it was shown in
several Armenian communities of the United States. But the first and
biggest Armenian studio was created eleven years later, in 1923, in
Yerevan.
The
Council of Popular Commissars (Council of Ministers) of Soviet Armenia
adopted a decision on April 16, 1923, to nationalize all private cinemas
and to found the company “Petkino” (State Cinema), which was shortly
thereafter renamed “Haypetfotokino” (Armenian State Photo Cinema). The
board of the company was directed by Daniel Dznuni. The company was
renamed “Haykino” in 1928 and then Yerevan Film Studio (1937).
The
first film was a documentary, “Soviet Armenia” in 1924 (directed by I.
Kraslavski). It was followed by the first feature film, H.
Bek-Nazarian’s Namus (The Honor), a year later. A series of
silent films by Bek-Nazarian, the pioneering director of Armenian
cinema, and others brought recognition to Armenian productions within
the Soviet Union. The beginning of the “talkies” was marked by the
production of the masterpiece of Armenian cinema, Pepo (1935), also directed by Bek-Nazarian. It followed a long period of historical films, before and during World War II, including Zangezur (1938), by Bek-Nazarian, which won the USSR State Prize. However, Lev Atamanov filmed the first Armenian cartoon, The Dog and the Cat (1938), during this period.
After
a period dominated by the production of documentaries, feature films
resumed in 1954, and the period of maturity was reached in the
1960-1980s, when some of those films even made their way to the
international market. The company was renamed Armenfilm in 1957 (it was
known in Armenian as Hayfilm) and the studios were baptized
with the name of Hamo Bek-Nazarian in 1966. Some of the more remarkable
films of this period were: “Hello, It’s Me” (Frunze Dovlatyan, 1965),
“Triangle” (Henrik Malian, 1967), “We Are Our Mountains” (Henrik Malian,
1969), “The Color of Pomegranate” (Sergei Parajanov, 1969), “Nahapet”
(Henrik Malian, 1977), “A Piece of Sky” (Henrik Malian, 1980), “White
Dreams” (Sergei Israelian, 1984), “The Tango of Our Childhood” (Albert
Mkrtchyan, 1985), “Nostalgia” (Frunze Dovlatyan, 1990), and others.
After
the fall of the Soviet Union, Armenfilm entered a period of decline and
was privatized in 2005 to Armenia Studios LLC (a branch of CS Media
Holding).
Henrik Malian's "The Tango of Our Childhood" (Մեր մանկութեան տանգոն), 1985.
Watch the entire film by clicking the above link.
