Artavazd Peleshyan in Cannes: classics of Armenian cinema on the world stage

Armenian director Artavazd Peleshyan was an honored guest at the 79th Cannes Film Festival. Five of his restored films were screened for audiences in the prestigious Cannes Classics program: Zemlya Lyudey (Land of People) (1966), Nachalo (Beginning) (1967), Mi (We) (1969), Obitateli (Inhabitants) (1970), and Vremena goda (Seasons) (1975).

The restoration project was carried out by Coproduction Office and Cineteca di Bologna, with the participation of the Public Television Company of Armenia and the Belarusfilm studio. Color grading and final restoration were completed by the L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory.

Peleshyan is known as the originator of a unique method he calls “distance montage,” in which meaning is generated not only from adjacent frames but from the interplay between images, sound, and rhythm. His work stands in the same tradition as that of Dziga Vertov and Sergey Eisenstein, while at the same time charting an independent course in world cinema.