Victoria is a director from Armenia. She holds a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Cinematography Production from Columbia University School of Arts. Her student short film "Caregivers" premiered at Armenia's most celebrated film festival - Golden Apricot IFF in 2014 and won Best Foreign Picture award at Sunset Film Festival in Los-Angeles, USA. "Crossing the blue", a narrative short, co-written, directed and co-produced by Victoria, is Armenia/Netherlands/USA co-production. The film premiered in July 2022, at Golden Apricot IFF’s Official Competition, and at Cinemed Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival’s Official Competition internationally. It was selected for Academy qualifying festivals, such as Tampere, Go Short, Interfilm, Bolton. The film received “Best Actress” Award in Malta Short Film Festival, “Best Performer” Award at Officine Social Movie, Italy, “Best Cinematography” Award in Yerevan Short Film Festival, Armenia, and “Best Short Film” in Germogli di Cinema (Debuts) in Visioni Corte, Italy.
“Crossing the Blue”
Crossing the Blue (Armenia/Netherlands/USA). This project examines the gravity of migration and the intensity of loss. The film was featured in a Special Focus on Armenia at the Cottbus Film Festival and screened at major international film festivals including Tampere IFF, Interfilm Berlin, Go Short, and Cinemed Montpellier. Recognised for its atmospheric depth, it received the Best Cinematography Award at the Yerevan International Film Festival and the Germogli di Cinema Award in Italy. It is currently distributed by Network Ireland Television (NITV) and Associak Distribuzione.
CREDITS
Cast:
ARMINE ANDA (lead), ALEXANDER STROBELE, ARMEN MIKAYELYAN
Crew:
Director VICTORIA ALEKSANYAN
Written by VICTORIA ALEKSANYAN, ARMINE ANDA
Producer ARMINE ANDA Co-Producers VICTORIA ALEKSANYAN, ANNA DEMIANENKO
Music by VARDAN HARUTYUNYAN, MIQAYEL VOSKANYAN
Director of Photography LEIGH LISBAO UNDERWOOD
Production Design SARKO MENEE, ARAX SARGSYAN
Costume Design KARINE ATANYAN
Make-Up SALBI AGHAJANYAN
Sound Design ARMEN MESHEFEJIAN, ARMEN BAZARIAN
Edited by TIGRAN BAGHINYAN, VICTORIA ALEKSANYAN
Associate Producers MARTIN YERNAZIAN, ALEX IGIDBASHIAN, JULIA ANDERSEN
Produced by HOSHKEE FILM
Co-Produced by CINDESUD, LAVINA FILMS
The cast & crew have been assembled from the following countries: Armenia, Austria, Germany, USA, Lebanon, Canada.
Director’s Note
Over the past few years, as we deprived ourselves of social contact and closeness, often not being able to be with our loved ones, we, like never before, felt the price of survival. For the protagonist of my film, survival has been the main activity for most of her life and being deprived is her new reality. She is a single mother and an illegal immigrant, who’s being deported back to her country.
“Crossing The Blue” is a portrait of loneliness and survival. Survival for me is measured by the hope remaining in the end. In the process of writing the story, I constantly had to resize the hope needed for my character to start her life anew. I made the hope so thin that it would just contain its essence. To me, even this little was enough to restart. This story came to its full life thanks to the lead actress Armine Anda, who blended in with the main character from the day we met and helped to put on paper the vulnerabilities that were hard for me to go back to. In the process of directing this film, I wanted to create an aesthetic of the duality of my character’s situation and her plea using reflections on glass and mirrors. A duality poses a question of what’s right and wrong in the decisions of the protagonist.
I have stylistically divided the film into two parts. Part one is more experimental: it plays with and breaks the construct of reality and time continuity. Some shots are mixed up in time on purpose - this is how I imagine memories, always in chunks related to a specific thought, rather than time.
Having more classic structure, the second part of the film is set to lead to a long shot culmination.
Caregivers (USA/Armenia): This contemplative meditation on devotion and mortality was awarded Best Foreign Picture at the Sunset Film Festival in Los Angeles. The film has been showcased across the American festival circuit, including the Palm Springs International Film Festival & Market, and continues to be recognised for its unique visual portrayals.
Production & Industry Context
In addition to her directorial work, Victoria brings a creative editorial eye to high-profile international productions. She served as Executive Producer for the documentary feature The Professor: Tai Chi’s Journey West (acquired by First Run Features) and has produced award-winning short cinema, including The Real American and Don’t Think About It. Her professional tenure is further distinguished by her experience at HBO Documentaries in New York.
Current Focus
Recently, traveling between Armenia and the United Kingdom, where she had her first child, Victoria is engaged in the development of her first feature film with an aim to deepen the international discourse on Armenian identity, culture and emigration. “Today and Tomorrow” is now in early stage of script development, currently co-produced by Aralez Films and Hoshkee Films of Armenia.