People Years Life

Using images shot in Russia and Armenia from World War I to the 1930s and retrieved from a Soviet film archive Gianikian and Ricci Lucchi constructed a meditative film about the status of Armenians as a people without a state Inspired by the diary of Gianikians father People Years Life uses rare footage depicting the regions major historic events the end of Tsarist Russia violence in the Caucasus during World War I the 1918 Armenian exodus from Azerbaijan Gianikian and Ricci Lucchis treatment of the material manipulates the speed of the images adds color and music and magnifies various parts of the image so that the movement of bodies across the frame begins to carry the weight of exile mourning dispossession