Mulberry

Шелковица (Թթենի)

Filmed by the then blacklisted Vartanov, thanks to the tireless petitioning of director Gennadi Melkonian, The Mulberry Tree (1979/1980), became a hit in the Soviet Union and was always on TV. A timeless Armenian comedy (filmed in Russian, later also dubbed in Armenian) is based on Zorayr Khalapyan’s short story about two neighbor families (one with sons, the other with daughters) who both claim they own the huge mulberry tree growing between their houses. This was the debut of director Gennadi Melkonyan who co-wrote the “director’s script” with cinematographer Mikhail Vartanov. Composer Armen Boyamyan wrote the original music score for the film. Mulberry won an award in Moscow (Gennadi Melkonian gifted it to Vartanov in Armenia) and it also won 3 awards at the 9th International Festival of Short and Documentary Films in Lille, France in 1980: The FIPRESCI Award, Best Debut Award and the Audience Award. In 2005, the film also screened at BAFICI in Argentina. Here’s actress Tamar Hovhannisyan on director Melkonian and cinematographer Vartanov.