16 District, 16 Floors, 16 People

EN / 16 District, 16 Floor, 16 People – a documentary by Tatevik Vardanyan [AM]
Friday, April 26, 2024, 7 pm
Flat Space (68/1, Bucuresti str., Chisinau)

16 District, 16 Floors, 16 People (20 min, 2018) is a short film featuring a district in Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia. In this district the legacy of the Soviet Union still occupies the minds and daily lives of the residents living in these huge unfinished monolithic structures built in the shape of the letters ‘CCCP’, as the urban legend holds. In 1986 people still invested in some of the apartments in the letter ‘P’ that had never got constructed in the end due to the imminent collapse of the Soviet Union.

The film highlights the community’s everyday issues and concerns, linking the past and present with all its changes and difficulties of the people once living in a superpower that’s become a decaying empire.

Tatevik Vardanyan is a photographer and film director of Armenian nationality, currently living between London and Yerevan. A mathematician and computer scientist by profession, she chose to pursue her passion for art. She started photographing the environment around her in a self-taught way and later became a professional in this practice. Photography has led her to direct two documentaries, 16 District, 16 Floors, 16 People and Taniel (2018). She currently works as a freelance photographer and conducts photography workshops at the Tumo Center for Creative Technologies.

The film screening follows the monthly Critical Mass Chisinau ride, which promotes the use of bicycles as an alternative means of transport in the city. We invite you to join the next bike ride on Friday, 26 of April 2024, starting at 18:00.