Film directors, producers and lawyers used to gather in Tbilisi a couple of times, participated in seminars, took lessons for cinematography and discuss their projects. The independent jury was prepared to finance tapings of films that won during the contest. Davit Matevosyan participated in the seminar and decided to make a short, artistic film and got a grant. He decided to make a film based on Russian writer Vsevolod Garshin’s ”Enemies” short story. ”Enemies” is a one and half page short story. David’s father Hrant Matevosyan recommended his son to choose ”Enemies”. ”My father said that it is possible to make a nice film based on this short story even with the least amount of money,” he says. Garshin is a very delicate and emotional writer. He has lived a horrible life and has even tried to commit suicide. He witnessed World War II and has written much about the war, misery, and has made observations about animosity. There are two heroes in the ”Enemies” short story. They live in a reality where they face the danger of dying and both feel that nobody cares about them. ”Perhaps, besides the both of them”, says David. The environment will be conditional in his film, however, not abstract. “A film must be concrete. We have made that situation similar to these days. Our heroes are the Armenian and the Azeri, but they can also be, for example, a Georgian and an Abkhazian,” says David. Two enemies are stuck to each other and must find a way. Nationality is not the important thing, but rather the psychology. In the film, Ashot Adamyan plays the Azeri and Edgar Minosyan is the Armenian. David Matevosyan had tried to feature a real Azeri in his film. Although he has promised to include the guest-actor, the Azeri have refused to take part in the film. ”They told me that an actor may have problems in Azerbaijan. The psychology of the post-war era is still there,”says David. So, the role of the Azeri will be played by an Armenian. Taping for the film is completed and they took place in Yeghegnadzor. The film mainly pictures the war scene. A pyrotechnic was working during the taping ”Our goal was not to have the explosions just like the movies made in Hollywood,” says the film director, ”but rather, to create a situation which is similar to nowadays.” According to David, the finale will be very humanistic, in other words, anti-war. ”There are neither winners nor losers in wars. In reality, both sides are winners-if, of course, we look at it from the individual’s perspective. The individual’s drama is that he always loses.” The film entitled ”Enemies” is in the editing stage. It will then be presented at festivals because the Swedish have policies for participating in festivals. ”Besides, short films never have a big reputation,” says the film director. Twenty seven films will be financed by the ”Avanti” project. The Swedish have provided David Matevosyan with 10,000 dollars for making the film and has also given the director the opportunity to come up with money on his own for buying extra things for taping. The film director had to have digital technology in order to produce a high tech film. ”We asked the Ministry of Culture and they promised to provide us with yet another 10,000 dollars,” says David. That amount had to be given to ”HyeFilm” last year, but the agreement had been made before the privatization of ”HyeFilm”. Now the situation is a little confusing, but the film director of ”Enemies” has not lost hope in getting the money. However, he could not delay taping. The film needed some colors of autumn.
