Memories Without Borders is a 54-minute documentary film looking at the personal memories of people affected by Turkish-Armenian and Armenian-Azerbaijani conflicts.
The film was directed by a team of Armenian, Azerbaijani and Turkish directors: Levon Kalantar, Ayaz Salayev and Mehmet Binay. It is in four parts, each covering a different story. The protagonists are:
- a young Turkish man who discovers that he has Armenian heritage;
- a young couple, a French Armenian husband and his Hungarian Armenian wife, who move to Nagorny Karabakh in search of their Armenian identity;
- an Azerbaijani woman, originally from Yerevan, who tells the story of the Yerevan Azerbaijani State Drama Theatre in displacement; and
- an Armenian carpenter in southern Armenia, creating a chessboard in which the pieces are carved figurines of key figures from Turkish-Armenian history.
The background to this project was the attempted Armenian-Turkish normalisation process of 2009–2010. In response, filmmakers wanted to open a dialogue through film about contested memories, taboos and their legacies and to stimulate debate about current preconceptions and stereotypes about Turks, Armenians and Azerbaijanis.
They also wanted the film making process to be part of this dialogue: providing a platform for Azerbaijani and Armenian journalists to collaboratively explore what the Turkish-Armenian process meant for the Karabakh conflict and demonstrating an example of Armenian-Azerbaijani-Turkish cooperation among media professionals.
The project resulted in a successful collaboration among the Armenian, Turkish and Azerbaijani partners, and produced a thought-provoking film about its subject. However, by the time the film came out Armenian-Turkish normalisation was no longer on the agenda.
This resulted in mixed feedback from viewers. Some felt that the explicit connections made between Armenian-Turkish and Armenian-Azerbaijani relations were unhelpful, while others felt there were “too many Armenian stories” and not enough Turkish and Azerbaijani ones.
Nonetheless, it was well received critically, with journalist Myrna Douzjian stating: “All in all, ‘Memories Without Borders’ is a must-see because of its novel approach to the representation of the geopolitical conflicts that plague Armenia. The film offers more than just a pacifist message about regional conflict; it open-endedly frames provocative questions about identity and personal choice, forcing viewers to grapple with the reality of traumatic histories – irrespective of which side of the border one calls home.”
Find out more
Commentary about the film by Conciliation Resources:
Laurence Broers, Turks, Armenians and Azeris: Mirrors and Memories, The Caucasus Edition: Journal of Conflict Transformation, 1 November 2021.
Film review:
Myrna Douzjian, On the Sidelines, but Noteworthy: Three Documentaries at the AFFMA Film Festival This Weekend, Asbarez.com, 26 November 2012.
