IN THE LAND OF ARTO

Céline travels to Armenia for the first time to settle the official paperwork surrounding the death of her husband Arto. There she discovers that he concealed the truth about his past: he fought in the war and assumed another man's identity. His former friends regard him as a deserter. Determined to understand the man she loved Céline embarks on a journey through his past meeting wounded survivors of the 2020 conflict and veterans of the wars of the 1990s. As she follows the traces he left behind she confronts the lasting wounds of war and the difficulty of mourning someone she never fully knew.

Original title Le Pays d’Arto
Armenian title ԱՐՏՈՅԻ ԵՐԿԻՐԸ
Directed by Tamara Stepanyan
Screenplay Tamara Stepanyan Jean-Christophe Ferrari Jean Breschand Jihane Chouaib Romy Coccia di Ferro
Featuring Camille Cottin Zar Amir Ebrahimi Hovnatan Avédikian Shant Hovhannisyan Babken Chobanyan Alexander Khachatryan Hasmik Suvuryan Christine Hovakimyan Denis Lavant
Cinematography Claire Mathon
Editing Olivier Ferrari
Music Marc Ribot
Production Companies La Huit Pan Cinema Visan
Locarno Film Festival
2025 | Piazza Grande — Opening Film — World Premiere
Busan International Film Festival
2025 | A Window on Asian Cinema — Asian Premiere
Thessaloniki International Film Festival
2025 | Meet the Neighbors Competition / Open Horizons
Festival du Film Français d’Helvétie — FFFH
2025 | Grand Premières
CINEMED — Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival
2025 | Official Selection — Feature Film Competition
CINEMANIA — Montreal
2025 | Les Premières — North American Premiere
Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival — GAIFF
2026 | Opening Film
Göteborg Film Festival
2026 | Voyage — Nordic Premiere

HERE WE DROWN ALGERIANS

LITTLE PALESTINE, DIARY OF A SIEGE