Many people were stating to Mara Abramyan that she wouldn’t live in her homeland for even a month, but despite those discouragements, she proved that it is possible to live in Armenia as easy as in any other country. She arrived in Yerevan nearly two years ago and so far has not regretted her decision to move, although having lived the major part of her life in Moscow, where she made a successful career in Television and Radio.

 

“I was born in Yerevan in 1988. I lived here only 6 six years. When the difficult times began to grow my parents, like many Armenians, left. The main reason for the move was that I was becoming very seriously ill. In those times it was impossible for me to be cured here, and I almost no chance to stay alive!” (laughing) “In fact, in order to save my life and ensure a future for me my parents decided to leave Armenia at a rather old age. They intended at the time to only leave for a few years, and those ‘few years’ turned into almost 20. We had moved to Russia and settled in Moscow. There I attended school, studied at the institute, worked for many years, but was not simply feeling myself as an Armenian girl while living in Russia. I was considering myself, as I like to think of me, a person of world peace.” (laughing)

For the first time after moving to Moscow Mara came to Yerevan after 10 years. She did not gain the best impressions of her homeland. “I was brought to Armenia with my mother. At the time I did not enjoy it here at all. It was unbearably boring. Most of my time I was spent sitting at home and reading books, while my mother was attending some institutions.”

 

Mara is a professionally a journalist. She completed her education at the Institute of Modern Art in Moscow. “I did not choose my profession; my profession chose me.” (laughing). “I remember everyone wondering at school; where to go, what to do. I had options: to apply either for RSFI, for the Acting Department, or for the Faculty of Sociology. But when it was time to send in the documents, I made a decision to apply for the Faculty of Journalism. I don’t even know why. It just felt it was right for me.”

 

Regarding her years at school Mara tries not to reminisce. Her childhood was in the nineties in a residential part of Moscow, which was a very trying time for her. But according her words, “The school years tempered my character and taught me not to give up in spite of anything.”

 

This characteristic has aided her much in her future years. ”I made a great career for myself; when I was 18 I was a managing editor on TV; I was managing eight-hour talk-shows live. By 19 I was the managing editor of a program named «Speaking in Russian». It was very funny: a 19 year old Armenian teaching Russians how to speak in Russian!”(laughing).

 

 

 

“There was once a moment that I was excepting the opportunity to go and live in Karabakh. But the thing is, Yerevan is my home. I have chosen this life for me. I can just leave for Stepanakert at any time for work, and do just that for several months. For me Artzakh is like a chocolate cake: imagine eating it every day, then after some time you won’t even be able to look at it.”

 

“It turned out that only two families lived in the village. In winter time, when they need to buy something, they have to come down from the mountain along the serpentine path, on foot, as at this time cars don’t travel here at all. Once they make it down, with half the day gone, they can’t go back. They will wait till the next day comes to go back home. In Armenia there was a famine while the war was happening over Karabakh. There are many villages similar to this one. The children of Karabakh up to 3 years old have lived in cellars, some of them have gone days without seeing daylight. They have never played in streets, haven’t even ever known the taste of candy. It breaks their psychology. If we up to the moment can’t forget those severe years, imagine the people there that wake up from any single loud noise, reminding them of gun and rocket fire. Together, with the director Kostas Che, we put our emotions and impressions in this film. We just locked ourselves in a house for two months and we all felt the pain, joy, delight and anger we conveyed in this film. The film turned to be heartbreaking. I know that adult men have cried watching it.

“Of course, there were many people who gave feedback after seeing the film. I think if anyone is touched by the film even bought a single copy-book and sent to the children of Karabakh in need, it means that the film has been a success.”