“A deeply felt and beautifully made film.” – Atom Egoyan
There Was, There Was Not follows four women living in the Republic of Artsakh, an unrecognized country reckoning with the aftermath of one war while on the precipice of another. In the midst of this uncertainty, four women build a life with the hope of making their home a better place. When war breaks out again, what began as an observational meditation on women’s roles after conflict becomes an urgent and intimate record of their lives interrupted once again by war. From taking up arms on the front lines to fleeing their homes as refugees, each woman’s life changes irrevocably. Their journey becomes the myth of a homeland lost forever, and the power of story to keep it alive.
In Armenian and English, with English subtitles.
Join filmmaker Atom Egoyan and There Was, There Was Not director Emily Mkrtichian for a special post-screening discussion.
With eighteen feature films and related projects, Armenian-Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan has won numerous awards including five prizes at the Cannes Film Festival – the Grand Prix, International Critics Awards and Ecumenical Jury Prizes – two Academy Award® nominations, twenty-five Genie Awards – now Canadian Screen Awards – including three Best Film Awards – prizes from the National Board of Review and an award for Best International Adaptation at The Frankfurt Book Fair. Seven Veils, Egoyan’s most recent film, had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, 2023, before its International Premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, and was Opening Night Gala at the Yerevan International Film Festival in Armenia in 2024.
Emily Mkrtichian is a filmmaker and interdisciplinary artist from a displaced, diasporic family whose work explores alternative archives and visionary futures of the SWANA region. Her films include Transmission, the first Armenian science-fiction film, which premiered at BFI Flare, and the feature documentary THERE WAS, THERE WAS NOT, which premiered at True/False and received the FIPRESCI Prize at the Golden Apricot Film Festival as well as the Audience and Jury Awards at Mar del Plata. Her multimedia installation Luys i Luso, created with Tigran Hamasyan, has been exhibited internationally. A 2025 Creative Capital awardee, she splits her time between the U.S. and Armenia.
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