Hot Country, Cold Winter – Tak erkir, tsurt dzmer (2016)

Directed by: David Safarian | 104 minutes | drama | Actors: Yana Drouz, Ashot Adamyan, Karen Dzhanibekyan, Hrachya Harutyunyan, Heghine Hovhannisyan, Harutyun Movsisyan, Vigen Stepanyan

Armenia, one of the oldest countries in the world, has a turbulent history. Much has been said and written about the genocide in 1915, but there is more. For many years it was part of the Soviet Union. The enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, mainly populated by Armenians, located in neighboring Azerbaijan, has long been the subject of conflict in the region. Armenia and Azerbaijan started a war over the enclave in 1988, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the feud only intensified. The war with Azerbaijan caused a huge energy crisis in the early 1990s; not only was the economy in shambles, the Armenians barely had gas and electricity. Especially in winter – and you can count on it that it can get cold in Armenia! – that caused big problems. This is the setting for the film ‘Hot Country, Cold Winter’ (2016) by the Armenian filmmaker David Safarian. Although he has been active since 1975 and has many short films and documentaries to his credit, this is only his second feature, and the first dates back more than 25 years (‘The Lost Paradise’, 1991). ‘Hot Country, Cold Winter’ – an Armenian-German-Dutch co-production – is a very personal project by Safarian; it’s not for nothing that he worked so long on it. “Film is a fairy tale, the filmmaker is a storyteller”, that is the director’s motto. In this film, he makes the struggle of an Armenian family to fight the cold symbolize the struggle that the whole country has endured, a struggle for recognition and against oppression of the communist regime. An ambitious set-up, with a very personal touch, resulting in a poetic and vibrant film.

What is it like to live in an unstable country, which is suffering from a political and economic crisis? After Armenia gained its independence after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the people of the country try to make something of it. But in the winter cold and without electricity and with hardly any gas to heat the houses, that is not easy. Under these extreme circumstances, Katya (Yana Drouz, in everyday life the wife of the director who also co-wrote the screenplay) and Tigran (Ashot Adamyan), a middle-aged artist couple, try to keep their heads above water. Their story is slowly but surely changing into that of the entire community; family members, friends and neighbors are joining forces to patch up the local gas supply, so that at least they have a chance to survive this harsh winter. Through Katya and Tigran we get to know some of these people better; they all have similar fears and dreams, but they all handle the situation slightly differently. In addition, Safarian treats us to a number of moving flashbacks, which not only offer the viewer something to hold on to in their bond with the characters, but also offer a certain comfort to the characters themselves. They are beacons of familiarity, warmth and hope in the present overgrown by uncertainties and bitterly cold snow landscapes.

As desolate as the situation is, this film is far from depressing. ‘Hot Country, Cold Winter’ has no standard plot line; Safarian immerses its viewers in a warm blanket of flashbacks from better times, warm memories, poetic reflections and vivid dreams of a bright future. They are the desires of not only Katya and Tigran, but of all Armenians, who try to preserve their dignity and humanity under extreme conditions. The director allows reality and fantasy to merge into one whole. This is most beautifully reflected in the beautiful dolls that Katya makes, each of which personifies one of their closest ones. At a certain point, Tigran states: “When the conditions under which people have to live become unbearable, people sometimes drop their masks.” As if they are dolls at the mercy of time and life. ‘Hot Country, Cold Winter’ is a film full of contrasts: between the heat and the cold, but also between dark and light, past and present, hope and fear. The uncertainty of what the future holds – are harsh conditions like these bringing people together, or are they tearing the country apart? – is always lurking. This is underlined by the bittersweet ending, in which spring has arrived and worries literally disappear like snow in the sun; When it comes autumn again, all the misery starts again. Safarian also has a wonderful metaphor for this: a seemingly endless line of people waiting for a future that may turn out to be just a little too far away.

Hopefully next time David Safarian won’t make us wait another 25 years for his new movie; but the result may be there. ‘Hot Country, Cold Winter’ is a beautiful poetic tale in which the worries of a family symbolize that of an entire country. More than worth it!