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Out of Mind

Out of Mind follows the story of a young Armenian man's struggle with depression and anxiety disorder worsened by the stigma around mental illness in his family and the community.

  • Tigran Nersisian
    Director
  • Tigran Nersisian
    Writer
  • Tigran Nersisian
    Producer
  • Elon Zlotnik
    Producer
  • Bailey Olmstead
    Producer
  • Gor Sargsyan
    Key Cast
    "Nick Pogosyan"
  • Arthur Margaryan
    Key Cast
    "Vigen Pogosyan"
  • Armen Gendjian
    Key Cast
    "Armen"
  • Beth Lane
    Key Cast
    "Dr.Stephanie Kasanjian"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    12 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    June 9, 2019
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    Armenian, English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.85:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes
  • Reel Recovery Film Festival
    Los Angeles
    United States
    October 13, 2019
    World Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Glendale International Film Festival
    Glendale
    United States
    October 13, 2019
    Glendale Premiere
    Best Film by Glendale Filmmaker
  • ARPA International Film Festival
    ARPA
    United States
    November 12, 2019
    Hollywood Premiere
    Official Selection
  • POMEGRANATE FILM FESTIVAL
    Toronto
    Canada
    November 16, 2019
    Canada Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Festigious Film Festival
    Los Angeles
    United States
    June 25, 2019
    Online
    Best Indie Filmmaker
Director Biography - Tigran Nersisian

Tigran Nersisian was born in Yerevan, Armenia in 1995. In 2000 his family moved to Russia, where they lived for 13 years.

By the age of ten, filmmaking had become Tigran’s
greatest hobby. He was experimenting with an old VHS camera and making amateur music videos.

By the time Tigran turned 15, he was dreaming of enrolling in the Moscow Institute of
Cinematography (VGIK). However, he knew that because of rampant corruption in the Russian
education system and his family’s financial constraints, his dream had little chance of coming true.

Tigran’s life changed when, in 2013, his family was granted a green card to move to the United States. Blinded by endless opportunities, Tigran immediately began working on new
projects, one of which was an international YouTube project RusAme. Simultaneously, Tigran was attending Glendale Community College in California, and his dream of attending VGIK evolved into getting admitted to one of the best film schools in the United States—UCLA TFT.

In 2017, Tigran’s dream finally came true, and along with 5 other filmmakers, he got admitted to UCLA TFT’s Undergraduate Program. During his journey at the film school, Tigran
created several short films such as Express Delivery (2017), Two Sides of a Friendship (2018),
and his thesis film, Out of Mind (2019). The latter received 6 scholarships and grants designated
for film students.

His next film “Churki” is about an Azerbaijani and an Armenian high school students Said and Aram who hate each other because of the Armenian-Azerbaijani war. As the story develops, they have no choice but to unite to be able to stand against Russian skinheads.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

When I was taking my first steps as a filmmaker, it was a way of expressing myself and
communicating with the world. I was fascinated by big films, and I would try to replicate what I
would watch on TV using my old VHS camera. As I grew older, my approach to filmmaking
started to change. I realized that filmmaking had become a tool that I could use to tell a story
about a topic that must be discussed. One of those topics is mental illness.

During a major episode of depression, I saw myself as if I am in a deep pit, and no one
could help me get out. Although my family is not conservative, it was still very hard to
communicate with them about my challenge. In the Armenian community, as well as in many
other conservative communities, the topic of mental illness is taboo. Mental illness is seen as a
weakness, and those suffering from it have little to no support.
I believe that to make a change in society, we need to be able to talk about it.

To me Out of Mind is an attempt to begin the conversation of mental illness in the Armenian community. The fact that the film is getting selected by festivals, especially Armenian ones shows that we are in need of that conversation to discuss coping skills, self-care, what helps, and what makes it worse. As somebody who periodically goes through episodes of derepression, I hope that the film can empower those within our community who are ashamed to speak up about their own mental illness.