PHOTO: © 2017, DANA KAVELINA, KYIV, UKRAINE
On March 25 screening of the films, produced under the umbrella of the regional program “ARENA: Community Theatre and Public Art” launched and supported by the “Peace Dialogue” NGO, and a follow up discussion took place in the coffee shop “12 Chairs”. Documentary and animated movies “The Corridor” (director Igrar Gurban, Azerbaijan), “Mark Lvovich Tyulpanov and Others” (director Daria Kavelina, Ukraine), and “Feud” (director Norayr Hambaryan, Armenia) were shown.
The aim of the film screening and the discussion was to inform the community of Vanadzor about the ARENA project and to promote the movies. The movies particularly touched upon various peacebuilding initiatives and activities carried out throughout the post-Soviet states involved in conflict situations.
The meeting was attended by a group of young people and civil society activists from Vanadzor. Despite the limited number of the participants the discussion following the screening was very dynamic.
Many of the participants noted that it was irrelevant for them which country and which particular conflict a movie was dealing with, since wars are equally disastrous everywhere and concern everyone, regardless of nationality and ethnicity.
Contrary to the opinion expressed by one of the participants that such kind of discussion-meetings and various peacebuilding activities “can hardly make any significant differences and that serious decisions may only be made by political actors and superpowers”, many of the participants adhered to the viewpoint that, to a certain extent, every individual can become the bearer and promoter of changes. It was also mentioned that the common practice of placing the responsibility for various issues on external factors and actors without exposing the wrongdoers makes it impossible to initiate the necessary actions to make their own contribution in influencing the situation and bringing about positive changes.
Project’s German Partner – OWEN – Mobile Akademie für Geschlechterdemokratie und Friedensförderung e.V.
The project “Arena: Community Theater and Public Art” is supported by the zivik (Civil Conflict Resolution) programme of the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (ifa) with means from the German Federal Foreign Office.
