In this episode, guest host Bedros Afeyan speaks with documentary filmmaker Diana Mkrtchyan about her feature documentary *Ojakh: On the Other Side of Silence*. The conversation traces the film’s nine-year development, its origins in Turkish photographer Erhan Arik’s *Horovel* project, and the urgent effort to document the last living Armenian Genocide survivors in border villages. The discussion also addresses artistic responsibility, dignity in testimony, cultural memory, censorship, and the continuity between Genocide-era trauma and the recent destruction of Artsakh.
Topics
Diana Mkrtchyan’s personal and artistic journey
The origins of *Ojakh* in Erhan Arik’s photographic work
Filming the final testimonies of Armenian Genocide survivors
Ethical and technical challenges of documenting trauma
The erasure of *Ojakh* from official cultural promotion in Armenia
Cinema as historical record and moral witness
Mkrtchyan’s Artsakh footage during the blockade
Guest
Guest Hosts
Episode 499 | Recorded: December 27, 2025
