There Was, There Was Not

This is a very well crafted film showcasing 4 women: a deminer, a sports women who later becomes a fighter, an activist and a women right's defender before and after the 44 day war of 2020 between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

In Armenian when telling a fairy tale we don't start with "once upon a time" we say "linum e chi linum" or "kar chkar" which both stand for "There was and there was not". This is the starting point of the film, that tells us the sorry of a land of a country Artsakh that there was and now does not exist, so the film uses this narrative all the way through till the end and it works well to feel and understand the hardship all these people went through while living and fighting for Artsakh.

This is an incredibly moving documentary about the real life of four women during the war in Nakorno Karabagh/Artsakh in Sept 2020, which lasted 44 days. The people of Artsakh had lived in a free and democratic state for 30 years and had built a state after the collapse of the Soviet Union. This country had been a part of Armenia for 3500-4000 years but Stalin made it an autonomous region within Azerbaijan in 1923. Nakorno Karabagh, in essence, was never a part of Azerbaijan.

The documentary narrates the lives of four women and their families before and after the war. Their stories are factual, full of family warmth, personal ambitions and love. A demining expert, an athlete, a manager of a women's support group and a want-to-be elected member of local government narrate their daily lives with humor, grace and dignity.

This is a must see documentary. It was shot before, during and after the war. It captures the beauty of Artsakh and the determination of its courageous people to live in freedom, independent of Azeri control, and to build a western style democracy. Unlike the state of Azerbaijan, democracy, human rights and state institutions were the bedrock of the Artsakh Republic.

There Was, There Was Not follows four women in the Republic of Artsakh as they navigate the fragile aftermath of war, trying to rebuild their lives and their homeland. What begins as a quiet exploration of resilience and recovery becomes something far more urgent when renewed conflict breaks out-forcing them to confront loss all over again. From taking up arms to fleeing as refugees, their lives unfold against the backdrop of a homeland being erased.

Set during the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, the film captures a painful transition from survival to exile. But it's not just about war-it's about memory, identity, and what remains when a place is taken from you. Through these women's stories, There Was, There Was Not becomes a powerful act of remembrance-a way to preserve a home that no longer exists, through the simple, enduring force of telling the truth.