Diana Mkrtchyan - Ojakh, the Other Side of Silence - a Marvel to Behold | Ep 499, Jan 30, 2025

The Critical Corner - Recorded on: December 27, 2025In this episode, guest host Bedros Afeyan speaks with documentary filmmaker Diana Mkrtchyan about her feature documentary *Ojakh: On the Other Side of Silence*. The conversation traces the film’s nine-year development, its origins in Turkish photographer Erhan Arik’s *Horovel* project, and the urgent effort to document the last living Armenian Genocide survivors in border villages. The discussion also addresses artistic responsibility, dignity in testimony, cultural memory, censorship, and the continuity between Genocide-era trauma and the recent destruction of Artsakh.TopicsDiana Mkrtchyan’s personal and artistic journeyThe origins of *Ojakh* in Erhan Arik’s photographic workFilming the final testimonies of Armenian Genocide survivorsEthical and technical challenges of documenting traumaThe erasure of *Ojakh* from official cultural promotion in ArmeniaCinema as historical record and moral witnessMkrtchyan’s Artsakh footage during the blockadeGuestDiana MkrtchyanGuest HostsBedros AfeyanEpisode 499 | Recorded: December 27, 2025https://podcasts.groong.org/499Subscribe and follow us everywhere you are: linktr.ee/groong