ԹԵՒԱՎՈՐ ԼԱՐԵՐ | FIBERS (2025)

ԹԵՒԱՎՈՐ ԼԱՐԵՐ | FIBERS is an experimental essay documentary that blends voiceover testimony, performative studio imagery, and tactile close-ups of the narrator’s hands making zhengyalov bread to reflect on memory, resilience under siege, and daily life during the war in Shushi (Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh).

Genres:
- Experimental essay documentary
- Essay film
- Poetic documentary
- Short documentary
- War memory / conflict reflection
- Art-house / visual essay

Screening formats: DCP, 4k ProRes, mp4.

Official website: https://annagrigorian.art/tevavor-fibers/

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Long synopsis

This 15-minute experimental essay documentary blends the voiceover testimony of Lida Mkrtchan, recounting her days in bomb shelters in Shushi (Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh), with a richly layered audiovisual landscape. The film moves between intimate close-ups of the narrator’s hands preparing zhengyalov bread, and staged studio compositions where objects, textures, and performative gestures metaphorically reimagine the narrated events and inner states through dark video-tableaux.

The interplay of documentary and poetic imagery traces the resilience of a community under siege, the rhythm of daily life, and the quiet acts that sustain hope. Moments of beauty, ritual, and shared labor—alongside stark reflections on war, loss, and displacement—coexist with metaphorical sequences that evoke tension, fear, and collective memory. Intertitles at the end provide historical context on the war in Artsakh and dedication to the women whose stories shaped the film.

By layering testimony, crafted imagery, and performative gestures, the film creates an essayistic meditation on survival, memory, and the endurance of community in the midst of conflict, culminating poetically and conceptually in a final sequence, synthesizing the themes of memory, resilience, and collective experience.

  • Anna Grigorian
    Director
  • Anna Grigorian
    Producer
  • Lida Mkrtchyan
    Key Cast
    Herself (hands making zhengyalov bread)
  • Anna Grigorian
    Key Cast
    Studio mise en scène
  • Lida Mkrtchyan
    Voice
    Herself
  • Silva Khnkanosyan
    Voice
    Herself
  • Armen Ohanyan
    Armenian transcription
  • Anna Grigorian
    Armenian to English translation
  • Ashod Nakashian
    English translation proofreading
  • Raffi Yeretsian
    Armenian to French translation
  • Mariné Ovesyan
    Armenian to Spanish translation
  • Marianne Lévesque
    Colorist
    Centre PRIM
  • Émilie Blaise
    Mixer
    Centre PRIM
  • Anna Grigorian
    Concept, footage, montage, sound design
  • Art and Cultural Studies Laboratory - Armenia
    Support acknowledgement
  • Canada Council for the Arts - Canada
    Support acknowledgement
  • Armenia
    Countries of production
  • Canada
    Countries of production
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    ԹԵՒԱՎՈՐ ԼԱՐԵՐ
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    expanded documentary, artistic documentary, experimental essay documentary
  • Runtime:
    15 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    July 1, 2025
  • Country of Origin:
    Armenia
  • Country of Filming:
    Armenia
  • Language:
    Armenian
  • Shooting Format:
    4k Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Festival internazionale Segni della Notte (10th edition)
    Urbino
    Italy
    April 14, 2026
    Italian Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Festival Internacional de Cine de villa de Leyva (19th edition)
    Leyva
    Colombia
    November 15, 2025
    Colombian Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Brussels International Women's Film Festival . Elles Tournent (18th edition)
    Brussels
    Belgium
    October 11, 2025
    European Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Golden Apricot International Film Festival (22nd edition)
    Yerevan
    Armenia
    July 17, 2025
    World/Domestic Premiere
    Official Selection
Distribution Information
  • GROUPE INTERVENTION VIDÉO (GIV)
    Distributor
  • Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre (CFMDC )
Director Biography - Anna Grigorian

Anna Grigorian is an artist and filmmaker from Armenia, whose art practice is currently based between Armenia and Canada. Mixing elements of theater, early cinema, and constructed surreal environments, her films revolve around socio political and economic problems, and examination of power relations.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Work on this film started in the summer of 2023 in Armenia when I began recording the personal accounts of women affected by the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) war in 2020. Even though my initial intention was to create a record of “women’s struggles in post-war life,” the reality I faced was far from being post-war. The war did not end with the ceasefire agreement, it simply changed forms: at that time, Azerbaijan had been keeping Artsakh under complete blockade which lasted more than 9 months. The continued military aggression after the war and
the 9-month blockade of Artsakh was followed by another full-scale military attack by Azerbaijan, leading to the ethnic cleansing of Armenians from Artsakh in the autumn of 2023.

Dealing with a delicate topic of trauma suffered by the people uprooted from their ancestral lands, ԹԵՒԱՎՈՐ ԼԱՐԵՐ | FIBERS highlights a brief moment that took place in one of the bomb shelters of Artsakh in 2020. The film speaks about the courage of finding strength during dark times, the communal resilience, the daily care for the community that is traditionally on the women’s shoulders and continues even under bombardment.

Informed and affected by some 18 personal accounts recorded in the summer of 2023, the film’s voiceover is mainly composed of excerpts from the personal account of Lida Mkrtchyan and ends with words from Silva Khnkanosyan.