Those from the Shore • Filmhuis Denhaag Filmhuis Denhaag

Tamara Stephanyan

Those from the Shore - Armenian films

Armenian asylum seekers wait in Marseille, caught between hope and despair. Balancing between their past in Armenia and the hope of a new life in France.

Marseille, 2014. Dozens of Armenian asylum seekers trying to survive while waiting for their application to be considered. For most of them, they have landed in Marseille by chance, at the desire of the whims of smugglers. It is difficult to know exactly how they arrived. Many evoke a long journey through forests, but their story has many holes, many approximations. Were they conducted across Europe without their knowledge? Do they keep a confusion about the journey to preserve the future? Unclear. All fled Armenia because, for one reason or another, they would incur a risk of imprisonment or death. One day, they decided to leave, they took few things in a suitcase, paid smugglers, and left behind them a country whose people  have settled around the world for over a hundred years ... A country all described as desert, abandoned by its inhabitants, emptied of its life. 

Now they are there and they have no choice: they would like to integrate in this new country, starting a new life here, but they must first wait until the court allows them to do so. 

Forced stillness, impotence, they live in an in-between: between two countries, between two lives. In a time and abstract space, made of nothing, where their life escapes them completely. They float in Limbo, as formerly Christian souls that had not received the right to enter paradise, floating in this intermediate space - between Heaven and Hell.

Director biography

A film director born in Armenia, Tamara Stephanyan moved to Lebanon with her parents in the early 1990s and continued her studies at the National Film School in Denmark. She now lives in France and is considered to be the new voice of contemporary Armenian film. Her documentaries have been shown at various festivals, including, among others, Locarno, DokLeipzig, Festival La Rochelle Cinéma, Boston Film Festival, and the Film Festival della Lessinia. Her feature film, Embers (2012), premiered at the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea. She directed Those from the Shore (2016), winner of the prize for best documentary at the Boston Film Festival and the Amiens Film Festival. Village of Women (2019) won the Curatorium Cimbricum Veronense prize at the Film Festival della Lessinia in 2020. Today, Stepanyan teaches at the École Supérieure de Réalisation Audiovisuelle in Paris. She just finished shooting her first feature film Save the Dead.

Documentary Voices from the Armenian Highlands and Diaspora

On November 16th, Filmhuis Den Haag will showcase a selection of Armenian films as part of the Armenian Cultural Weekend. This special weekend is organized in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Armenian Cultural Association Abovian. During this event, the rich Armenian culture will be highlighted, featuring a diverse program that allows visitors to explore the history, art, and traditions of Armenia. See the program here.

Regisseur Tamara Stephanyan
Land Libanon, Armenië, Frankrijk, Qatar
Taal Armeens, Frans
Ondertiteling Engels
Speelduur 84 min
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