SYNOPSIS
Who is Frunz? Some would say he’s the son of Marianne and Sergei, an unassuming boy discovering Paris from inside his stroller along the Seine. As his parents separate, little Frunz turns inward, then to his Lego blocs for sustenance. He may look harmless and lacking in courage, but don’t be fooled, Little Frunz is a disaster waiting to happen. As he overcomes his family travails, Frunz grows up to become an architect and decides to leave Paris. He heads to Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, where as a university professor, he lectures his students about the principles of good design – and his unremitting love of cement. Meanwhile, Yerevan is in the middle of a building boom. Wrecking balls swing through the city; cranes punctuate its skyline and cement trucks race through its narrow streets. Its denizens live in slums, outraged at the destruction of the historic city. Most of them have lost their homes to an ominous plan to reinvent the Soviet city. Yerevan is also a city on the verge of revolution as residents are flushed out of their homes with tragic results. Yet Frunz’s father forges ahead with his urban plan to rebuild the city anew – a city without memory or history.
CAST & CREW
Gariné Torossian
Director
Producer(s)
Gariné Torossian
Script
Viken Berberian
Director of Photography
Artur Ustyan
Production designer
Yann Kebbi
Sound
Gariné Torossian, David Davityan
Edit
Tigran Baghinyan
Production company(ies)
Veb, Menua, Lilit, Aymeric, Henri, Gevork.
Gariné Torossian
Gariné Torossian was born in Beirut, Lebanon; the child of Armenian parents. She spent her childhood in Beirut before moving to Canada with her parents at the age of nine. After studying Film and Photography at York University Toronto and subsequently working as a photographer, she began concentrating on film direction. Gariné Torossian refers to herself as a self-taught filmmaker, a fact underlined by her diverse and comprehensive filmography. Today, Torossian's filmography comprises 25 works, most of which could be seen at festivals at home and abroad, as well as in museums (e.g. in the Modern Museum of Art in New York and Georges Pompidou in Paris).
Filmography
Visions (1992), Platform (1993), Girl From Moush (1994), Drowning in Flames (1995), My Own Obsession (1996), Passion Crucified (1997), Pomegranate Tree (1998), Find Your Holy Self (1998), Red Brick (1999), Sparklehorse (1999), Dust (2000), Death to Everyone (2000), Hokees (2000), Babies on the Sun (2001), Shadowy Encounters (2002), Garden in Khorkom (2003), Sandias Eustasy (2004), Hypnotize/Mezmerize – System of a Down (2005), Stone Time Touch (2007), Elect the Dead (2007), Come Around (2008), I Come from Bourj Hamoud (2012), The Structure Is Rotten, Comrade (2017).
