A heart-warming story of a man jailed for wearing a tie has become the first Armenian film to make it onto the Oscar\u2019s shortlist, in the international feature category. \u201cMost of the films that have been made about Armenia really tend to revolve around the genocide. I wanted to make a film that would be enjoyable for Armenians and something that could relate to non-Armenians,\u201d said U.S. actor Michael A. Goorjian, who has directed and written the film. He also stars in it. Shot in Armenia with a mostly local cast and crew, \u201cAmerikatsi\u201d (American in Armenian) is also an attempt to rebuild the country\u2019s film industry, which lost its way after independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat the film is about is survival and resilience. Despite the setting, it\u2019s very hopeful and playful,\u201d said Goorjian, whose late father was Armenian. It tells the story of Charlie, an American who repatriates to then Soviet Armenia after World War Two and finds himself in prison because of his tie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From his cell, Charlie realises he can see inside an apartment nearby and lives vicariously through the life of the couple there.
Making the film was itself a test of resourcefulness.
Filming, interrupted because of the COVID-19 pandemic, took about seven months to complete, wrapping in July 2020 as border clashes broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe had cast and crew that went and fought in that war. And so it was a challenge to make this film for sure. But all the obstacles we faced, I would say actually made it a better film,\u201d Goorjian said. As international tensions and economic downturn dominate the headlines, \u201cAmerikatsi\u201d, which premiered at the Woodstock Film Festival in 2022, has tapped into a human need for positivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve found with the film, people come up to me all the time and say \u2018I miss feeling this way after a movie, feeling good\u2019,\u201d Goorjian said. He will find out if \u201cAmerikatsi\u201d has made it from the shortlist and onto the 2024 Academy Awards nominations on Jan. 23. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A heart-warming story of a man jailed for wearing a tie has become the first Armenian film to make it onto the Oscar\u2019s shortlist, in the international feature category. \u201cMost of the films that have been made about Armenia really tend to revolve around the genocide. I wanted to make a film that would be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":399873,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[688],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-399847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-infotainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}