There Was There Was Not: The Women of Artsakh

2025-10-31

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Linum e, chi linum. There Was There Was Not. This is how Armenians begin their myths and stories, the same saying as "Once Upon a Time." Filmmaker Emily Mkrtichian spent several years in Artsakh documenting four women building their lives and fighting for their place in society. In this episode we follow two of them in Artsakh. Sose, a judo champion dreaming of the Olympics. Siranush, a politician determined to prove women could lead differently. Then September 27, 2020 arrived, and the question be...

Linum e, chi linum. There Was There Was Not. This is how Armenians begin their myths and stories, the same saying as "Once Upon a Time."

Filmmaker Emily Mkrtichian spent several years in Artsakh documenting four women building their lives and fighting for their place in society. In this episode we follow two of them in Artsakh. Sose, a judo champion dreaming of the Olympics. Siranush, a politician determined to prove women could lead differently.

Then September 27, 2020 arrived, and the question became: What do you do when your world suddenly disappears?

This episode was produced, written and sound designed by Maxim Saakyan. Voice overs done by Mariam Koloyan (Siranush) and Nana Shakhnazaryan (Sose).

Emily’s film, There Was, There Was Not is playing in select theaters now! It’s coming to the Bertha DocHouse on November 7th.

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