Creative Retreat Armenia 2024
It all started with a rising sun, red and magnificent, over a landscape of dry hills and cars that most of us never saw before. We leave the Yerevan International Airport behind and head to Ushi, a picturesque town where our residency will take place. Our host is Vahagn Khachatryan, an established armenian filmmaker and Naanu member, who kindly offered us his family house for the meeting. We are deeply thankful to him, for finding the time for us while facing a particularly demanding phase in the production of his next feature film.
In the capital city Yerevan, the Cinema House of the Malyan Theatre opened its doors for members of our collective to give free workshops and present their works to the local film community. Ross McClean and Bronte Stahl presented a rough cut of Beyond the Fold, a semi-finalised film project in which they had been working together as director/producer. After a Q&A and feedback session, we were honoured to take part in the creative process of a work that immerse us into the prison system of Northern Ireland, as we follow with extraordinary proximity and empathy one of its convicts, Ryan *.
In the evening, fellow member Asia Dér presented her feature documentary Her Mothers, closely following the complexities in the life and relationship of a same-gender couple and their adopted child, in a Hungary increasingly dominated by conservative politics. Asia generously shared her experience and journey as director of the film, accompanied by cinematographer Balázs Domokos who also worked on it.
The next day, we met again at the Cinema House, where filmmaker and human rights lawyer Chris Patz, director of Discount Workers (2020), offered a workshop on fundraising for documentary films. Discount Workers isa film that highlights the garment supply chain and labor conditions in Pakistan following a factory disaster. The evening followed with a workshop by Jamie Allen, who offered his insight experience as film festivals curator; to close the night with a screening and Q&A of multiple short-films at the Mirzoyan Library, authored by Naanu members.
Every morning in Ushi started with a Kundalini Yoga session led by yoga teacher and filmmaker Nicolina Sangs. We coordinated the meals, schedule and logistics as a community, distributing responsibilities and delegating tasks. Our routine was centered on sharing sessions, where members of the collective present and share the state of affairs of current film projects, expecting constructive feedback from the group. Over the days, all participants had the chance to present and inspire us with film projects on topics like poverty and resilience, humans and plants, personal identity and cultural history, dystopia and late-capitalism, shamanism and mathematics, science, friendship, colonialism, family, arts, women, etc.
We also offered workshops among ourselves, field trips, feedback sessions and a community screening of short documentary films in the village of Ushi. Rebeca Taouk showed us Along the Water (2024), her latest documentary that traces a stream from Lebanon's highest peak to the sea. Balázs Domokos gave a workshop on analog film developing using a mix of DIY and modern digital techniques. Charlotte Müller gave an introductory course on specific acting techniques for film and documentary. Bronte Stahl and Domingo Riesco presented a sound immersion activity, playing several field recordings for the group to comment and reflect on. As part of the workshop, a parametric sound recording device that Domingo designed (Trio-1) was placed at disposition for everyone to use and document the retreat **.
Finally, in an effort to engage with and contribute to the local community in Ushi, we formed small crews during our stay and produced several short films throughout the town.
* The film would successfully premiere at Visions du Reel two years later under the title Magilligan (2026).
** The resulting tracks were edited and musicalised by Domingo and in a live event organized by Daphné Pascual at Het Boss Antwerp in and streamed online via the WAV (We Are Various) online Radio (Spring 2026).
