Recently, FAR finished filming a short documentary called “From Dreams to Reality,” which focuses on the Gulamerian Scholarship Program. The short film illustrates the program’s 12-year history of helping Armenian students from low-income families attend university.
HayFilm Production Company collaborated with FAR to create it. Filming began in November. FAR’s Press Secretary Levon Lachikyan wrote the script and Sateni Stepanyan directed it. A graduate of Saint Petersburg State University of Film and Television, Sateni has worked on films like Frunze Dovlatyan’s “Karot” (Nostalgia) and “Menavor Enguzeni” (A Lonely Nut Tree), Arman Manaryan’s “Kapitan Arakel” (Captain Arakel), and Suren Babayan’s “Odar Khakher” (Strange Games), among many others. Currently, Sateni is editing the film “Sunrise Over Lake Van,” which tells the story of an Armenian saved from the Genocide.
Both Sateni and film’s operator Sargis Sargsyan believe in FAR’s mission and have been collaborating with the organization for more than 10 years. For years, Sargis has led the production department at HayFilm. Together, the two have shot eight documentaries about FAR’s programs in the past, including “Childhood in Peril,” which is about FAR’s Children’s Support Foundation Center. The film won an award at the Moscow International Film Festival in 2003.
“It is indeed wonderful to introduce FAR’s mission through the language of cinema, but at the same time witnessing so many needy children fills my soul with sadness,” Sateni said.
Staff traveled throughout Armenia to film Gulamerian beneficiaries. FAR’s Educational Program Coordinator Eduard Karapetyan, FAR’s Shirak Department Director and film translator Marina Bazayeva and Communications Officer of New and Social Media Hasmik Manukyan also spent a great deal of time ensuring completion of “From Dreams to Reality.”
We congratulate the film team and wish them success in future.