The premiere of the documentary film by famous journalist and director Ashot Dzhazoyan “Petersburg! Life in the city…” was held within the framework of the “Russian-Armenian Media Forum: Youth’s View” held in Yerevan on October 24-26.
The forum, organized by the Russian-Armenian University jointly with the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, brought together more than 120 students from Armenia and Russia. Over the course of two days, creative teams of young journalists from the two countries prepared media materials dedicated to Russian-Armenian relations. For this purpose, master classes by famous Armenian and Russian experts were organized for the participants, including with the honorary guest of the forum – Secretary of the Union of Journalists of Russia, Chairman of the Media Congress “Commonwealth of Journalists” Ashot Dzhazoyan. He gave his young colleagues advice on preparing materials and shared his experience in creating such media products.
At the premiere of the film, Ashot Dzhazoyan said that the film was created by an international team, which included young authors from Armenia, Russia, Argentina, Belarus, Egypt, Spain and other countries. The film presents stories of people of different professions: teachers, drivers, architects, engineers, mechanics, etc. Among the heroes is also the General Director of the State Hermitage Museum Mikhail Piotrovsky. The film included more than 30 short film stories about St. Petersburg residents, through whose stories the special culture and atmosphere of the Northern capital of Russia is presented.
“It is thanks to such projects that the metaphysics of Russian-Armenian relations continues. After all, the synergy of the youth of the two countries, human, friendly ties that are strengthened during the preparation of joint media products, lay the foundation for real and much larger-scale cooperation between our countries,” Ashot Dzhazoyan noted.
The audience was able to fully immerse themselves in the spirit of St. Petersburg and greeted the film with a standing ovation. This was the main goal of the filmmakers, Ashot Dzhazoyan said after the screening. The director also introduced some of the responsible members of the team – cameraman Mkhitar Serobyan and editor Artur Parsyan, as well as the correspondent – participant of the Russian-Armenian Media Forum Eva Karapetyan. He also emphasized that the film will be translated into several languages.
Head of the Department of Journalism at RAU Marina Alekyan noted the value of such films in terms of media promotion of the positive image of the city, growth of the country’s tourism potential as a whole. She voiced a common request from students – to make the same amazing film about Yerevan, and Ashot Dzhazoyan promised to implement this initiative.
Following the forum, Ashot Dzhazoyan, as a representative of the jury, analyzed the teams’ work in detail and gave advice on how to make it better and more qualitative.
We should also note that during the opening ceremony of the forum, RAU Rector, Doctor of Economics of the Republic of Armenia and the Russian Federation, Professor Edward Sandoyan noted that thanks to Ashot Dzhazoyan, a tradition of bringing together media youth of Armenia and Russia is already being formed. For the second year in a row, the guys have been creating materials together aimed at strengthening friendship and cooperation between the two countries. He also stressed the importance of holding such events: “Difficult times teach us that friendship is formed between specific people and it is on the basis of such relationships that long-term ties between states and peoples are possible.
”In a video address to the forum participants, Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of Russia Konstantin Mogilevsky, in turn, noted that the main task was to unite active young media professionals interested in maintaining and strengthening historical ties between the two nations, and the talented youth of Russia and Armenia could always find a common language and solve problems together in the interests of their countries and the whole world. According to him, the agenda of scientific and educational cooperation plays a special role in this process, which must be widely and competently covered, and the Russian-Armenian University, within whose walls the forum was held, occupies a key place in this cooperation.