An interview with “Amerikatsi” writer-director-actor Michael Goorjian

There are films that can’t be watched with a box of popcorn. There are films that can’t, and shouldn’t, be watched just once. There are films that leave a lasting mark. Amerikatsi is one of those films. 

The news that an Armenian film was shortlisted for the Academy Awards immediately sparked the interest of my family and me, and we decided to watch it. From the very beginning of Amerikatsi, the mise-en-scène of the first shot and the first notes of the melody, I knew something great awaited us. Throughout the film, we saw and experienced everything, from hatred to love, from frustration to hopefulness, from overwhelming sorrow and despair to immense joy and excitement. Actor, writer and director Michael Goorjian made us cry and smile at the same time, creating a beautiful mix of emotions and sentiments that made us feel like we were there with the protagonist, looking at life from behind the prison bars of Soviet Armenia. There was so much life in Goorjian’s eyes, so much charisma in his acting and such power in his storytelling that only a few minutes after the film ended, something in me whispered: “You need to interview this person, ASAP!”