5 Dreamers and a horse

An elevator conductor in a hospital wishes to go on a journey into space. A young farmer dreams of finding the perfect spouse. Two girls simply wish to live freely. They are all driven by one desire that is to make their dreams come true.

Each dreamer stands for each generation of Armenia’s modern history : Soviet, post-Soviet, and the Velvet Revolution.

The relationship between men and women, the weight of tradition, the Soviet legacy, the arrival of a competitive economy and its consequences on the collective psyche, state corruption and finally individuality are the main issues that this film tackles through the fate and identities of the characters.

  • Vahagn Khachatryan
    Director
  • Aren Malakyan
    Director
  • Kamee Abrahamian
    Producer
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Feature
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 22 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    April 13, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    250,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Armenia
  • Country of Filming:
    Armenia
  • Language:
    Armenian
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Festival de Cannes
    Cannes
    Switzerland
    Doc Alliance award nomination
  • Hot Docs
  • Visions Du Reel
    nyon
    Switzerland
    International Feature Competition
    Official Selection
  • Dok Leipzig
    Leipzig
    Germany
    German premiere
    Official Selection
  • Jihlava IFF
    JIhlava
    Czech Republic
    Czech premiere
    Official Selection
  • RIDM

    Canada
    Official Selection
  • Camden IFF
    Camden
    Canada
    US premiere
    Official Selection
  • FidMarseille
    Marseille
    France
    French Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Dokufest
    Prizen
    Kosovo
    Kosovo premiere
    Official Selection
  • Makedox
    Skopje
    Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of
    Macedonian premiere
    Official Selection
  • Golden Apricot IFF
    yerevan
    Armenia
    Official Selection
  • Cinemad IFF

    France
    Official Selection
  • Cinedoc-Tbilisi
    tbilisi
    Georgia
    Georgian premiere
    Official Selection
  • Duhok IFF
    Duhok
    Iraq
    Iraqi Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Ethnocineca IFF
    Vienna
    Austria
    Special Mention
  • Duisburger
    duisburg
    Germany
    Official Selection
  • Kodex
    berlin
    Germany
    berlin premiere
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Vahagn Khachatryan, Aren Malakyan

Vahagn Khachatryan was born in Yerevan in 1991. At the age of 17, he
moved to China to pursue his studies and in 2008, he enrolled in the
Filmmaking program at the Beijing Film Academy. During his time there, he
developed a passion for documentary filmmaking and began producing his
own films. In 2014, Vahagn was accepted into the DOC Nomads Program
and spent two years studying at the ULHT Lusófona University in Portugal,
the SZFE University of Theatre and Film Arts in Hungary, and the LUCA School of Arts / College
Sint Lukas in Belgium. During this time, he produced several documentaries, including "Phone
Booth" (2014) in Portugal, "This is not a Pipe" (2015) in Hungary, and "The Moon The Sun And
The Musketeers' ' (2017) in Portugal. These films were well received at film festivals around the
world, including DOK Leipzig, Taiwan IDFF, Moscow IFF, Cinemateca Uruguaya, San Francisco,
and 30 other international film festivals, and won several awards.In 2018, he co-founded Oolik
Production, a film production company based in Armenia.
In 2022, Vahagn's latest documentary, "5 Dreamers and a Horse," premiered at the Visions Du
Reel IFF feature length competition and was nominated for the Doc Alliance award. The film
was also screened at several other festivals, including Hot Docs, DOK Leipzig, FidMarseille,
Dokufest, RIDM, Jihlava, and was nominated for the Silver Eye awards. Currently, Vahagn is
working on his second feature film, "Flying Cows," which received a Sundance Institute
development grant and was part of the Berlinale Talents and Nipkow Program.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

The idea of making Five Dreamers and a Horse was born in a small bar in Yerevan, where a friend of mine wanted to know if I was currently dreaming of anything in particular. I told him that I have had a dream of having my movie premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
He reminded me that when we were kids, we dreamed about reaching the stars and running under rainbows because back then, we believed that if we did so, we could turn into girls.
The idea that I had lost sight of my childhood dreams disturbed me. Had my mind overpowered my heart, or had they just stopped communicating? This conversation stayed in my mind as I began to search for people with dreams as untouchable as my childhood ones.
During my research, I realized that dreams were not common to all generations. I learned this as I became friends with Amasia and Sona. When the revolution happened, I also understood that I was situated between two generations who had opposite dreams. I dreamed of having my movie premiere at Venice while in fact it was a dream that only benefitted me.
The desire for change that had pushed me into filmmaking was somewhat less present. The Revolution was nonetheless also my dream, and I felt the need to go on a journey with the protagonists to understand their dreams while also figuring out my own, and how I was relating to the Revolution itself.