Blockade

Hakob Melkonyan – Director Statement

“For thirty years, Chinari, my home village, has been trying to survive the war between the Azeris and the Armenians, and the difficult conditions imposed by the blockade. Through the portrait of a family, my film plunges the viewer into the heart of this forgotten conflict.

Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous region, proclaimed its independence in 1991, tearing itself away from Azerbaijan at the price of a bloody war between Armenians and Azeris. This war killed nearly 30,000 people and drove hundreds of thousands of refugees from their homes. The signing of a ceasefire in 1994 did not resolve the conflict. The armed clashes between the two enemies never really stopped.

Besides the soldiers, the main victims are the inhabitants of the villages near the border. Among them, there is the Petrossian family. The film accompanies their daily life in their struggle for survival.

My film plunges the spectator into the heart of a war completely forgotten by the world. It shows the daily struggle of an ordinary Armenian family, who tries to survive the war. The editing of the film will alternate these everyday situations, these sudden changes of moods and family dialogues.The viewer will understand the geopolitical situation and feel the emotions experienced only by this family as if it were with them. The film shows us these difficult living conditions where each day passed is a victory.”