About Artavazd Peleshyan

Artavazd Peleshyan (born February 22, 1938 in Leninakan) is an Armenian director of film-essays, a documentarian in the history of film art, and a film theorist. In the words of the late Sergei Parajanov, Peleshyan is "one of the few authentic geniuses in the world of cinema."

 

He is renowned for developing a style of cinematographic perspective known as distance montage, combining depth perception with approaching action, such as running packs of antelope or hordes of humans. He has always made extensive use of archival footage, rapidly intercut with his original material. Telephoto lenses are often used to get candid shots of people engaging in seemingly mundane, everyday tasks. Read more >>

Tumo was honored to host one of the 20th century's greatest masters of documentary film art, Artavazd Peleshyan. To give Tumo students better insight into his filmography, four of his iconic films were screened: "We" (1969), "The Seasons of the Year" (1975), "The End" (1992) and "Life" (1993). After the screening, Tumo students had the unique opportunity to communicate directly with the prominent director, whose works are acknowledged for their unique style and poetic view of life transferred onto film.

Peleshyan is renowned for developing a style of cinematographic perspective known as distance montage. His "Theory of Distance" (1974), which is considered to be a new step in editing theory, is studied and taught at all film schools around the world. Recently, "The Seasons of the Year" (1972) was included in the Amsterdam International Film Festival's "Top Ten Documentary Films of All Times and Countries."