“In Armenian, we don’t begin our stories with ‘Once Upon a Time.’ We begin with ‘There Was, There Was Not.’” While not planning on that theme when she began filming, seven years later, Emily Mkrtichian uses it as the title.
In 2018, Mkrtichian began recording footage about four different women living in Atsakh who were strong and independent. Each one of them had a career, and each one inspired other Armenian women to become more than a servant to their respective families. Each was a woman for change: a politician, a judo champion, a de-miner, and a social worker.
What was Artsakh?
When this film begins, Artsakh was a little country landlocked by Azerbaijan on the north and east, Iran on the south, and Armenia on the west. Now you will no longer find it on Google Maps.
During Stalin’s time, the Soviet Union drew borders that placed Artsakh, nearly 100 percent Armenian, inside the newly formed Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan. When the Soviet Union fell, Artsakh wanted to be independent. In 1988, Armenia and Azerbaijan went to war over Artsakh. When the war ended in 1994, Artsakh became an independent republic. Peace lasted almost 30 years.
But in 2020 Turkey joined Azerbaijan in an attack, and the four women being documented, as well as the filmmaker, have to make a choice: stay, go, or join the army.
In the beginning …
In the press notes Mkrtichian writes: “I meant to make a film about how women create a sense of home and a better future for their communities after the rupture of war, displacement, and ethnic cleansing.”
In 2018, she began filming the idyllic version of Artsakh she envisioned from her grandparents’ stories and Armenian myths. She captures a mother and her two children playing and resting beside a clear, bubbling, shallow creek. With effort, the youngest girl can fit herself into the shallow stream to gently float.
Two other women gaze upon rolling hills where wild horses gallop across the green, unadulterated vista. The surrounding green hills look untouched and healthy.
The capital is a picturesque town with women selling foodstuffs, weaving, and shopping. Mkrtichian captures a peaceful environment, eerily populated by mostly women.
In 2018, everything in Artsakh seemed to have stabilized. Many men had been lost in earlier skirmishes with Azerbaijan, but the women were standing strong. Mkrtichian, as the narrator, says, “Every tree, every stone, the people, everything was special because it was heaven.”
The Women
Sose, the judo champ, was aiming for an Olympic medal. Physical fitness was her way of life. She is shown teaching classes in technique, stamina, and strength.
Siranush, the politician, got a stylish new haircut and then set out to confront people on the street about why they should vote her onto the city council. She is upbeat and positive.
Sveta, the de-miner, is the one with her children beside the freshwater stream. She doggedly goes to work every day to unearth and take away mines that are embedded in the hillsides. She knows she can only make one mistake, but the work pays enough for her to support her two daughters.
Gayane, the counselor, carries her cell phone 24/7 so that she is available to help women in crisis. Sometimes they need to escape an angry husband. She arranges a safe house. She also has meetings with women to talk over ways to support each other.
War Again
Two years of footage are done when Mkrtichian hears the siren and TV news. Artsakh is under attack again. The decisions each woman makes, to stay, to go, or to join the army, are filmed by Mkrtichian, who is encouraged by the others “to use her camera as a weapon.”
“There Was, There Was Not” is a remarkable documentary about news that never made the news. That it started out to be a study of four modern women rebelling against a patriarchy makes it all the more fascinating when war begins.
Credits
Writer/Director/Producer: Emily Mkrtichian
Producers: Brock Williams and Mara Adina
Executive Producers: Alexandria Bombach (“On Her Shoulders”) and D.D. Wigley
Editors: Alexandria Bombach and Emily Mkrtichian – Hey, she did On Her Shoulders follow Yazidi …
Featuring: Sose Balasanyan, Siranush Sargsyan, Sveta Harutunyan, and Gayane Hambardzumyan
Director of Photography: Emily Mkrtichian
Cinematographers: Alex Igidbashian and Margo Margossian with Andranik Sahakyan
Original music: Ruben De Gheselle
Release: Oct. 10, 2025
. . .
Join us on Facebook at
http://www.facebook.com/itsjustmovies!