A still of Camille Cottin from the film “In the Land of Arto,” which will have its East Coast Premier on April 20. The following announcement was provided by Belmont World Film:
As part of Armenian Heritage Month, Belmont World Film’s 24th International Film Series presents the East Coast premiere of the Armenian film In the Land of Arto, on Monday, April 20, at 7 p.m. at the West Newton Cinema (1296 Washington St.). The screening will be followed immediately by a discussion led by Diana Hayrapetyan, Professor of Armenian at Harvard University and a PhD candidate at the Strassler Center for Holocaust Studies at Clark University. The feature film debut of director Tamara Stepanyan is set in in Armenia, including the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, the site of the ethnic and territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, inhabited mostly by ethnic Armenians until their expulsion in 2023, and the seven surrounding districts, inhabited mostly by Azerbaijanis until their expulsion during the 1990s. The film stars Camille Cottin (Call My Agent, House of Gucci) as a wife who travels to Armenia to legalize her husband’s death, only to learn that he lied about his military service, that he fought in the war, usurped his identity, and that his former friends consider him a deserter.
