Shoghakat Vardanyan’s documentary film 1489 won the Best Documentary Award in the World-Doc category at the Rome International Documentary Festival (RIDF) 2024.
“1489 just won RIDF- Rome International Documentary Festival. It is especially an honor as the jury president is Sergei Loznitsa. I am really honored and this is a big responsibility,” said Vardanyan on Facebook.
1489 tells the personal story of its director, Shoghakat Vardanyan, and her search for her brother, 21-year-old Soghomon Vardanyan, who went missing during the 44-day war in Artsakh in 2020. The film powerfully portrays the Vardanyan family’s emotions, experiences, suffering, and expectations as they grapple with the uncertainty surrounding their loved one at the frontlines. Initially, the film was submitted to the Oscars through Armenia but was not selected. The Armenian National Film Academy nominated Yasha and Leonid Brezhnev by Edgar Baghdasaryan instead. 1489 received only three votes out of the 43 board members of the Armenian National Film Academy. Vardanyan later submitted the film individually, and it was included in the Oscars’ longlist of documentaries.
The film has also earned recognition at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) in 2023, where it received the main prize, further solidifying its status as a critically acclaimed and internationally celebrated work.
In addition to its recent victory in Rome, 1489 is one of two Artsakh-centered documentaries vying for an Oscar nomination at the 97th Academy Awards. It is among the 169 films submitted in the Documentary Feature Film category, which itself is part of the larger pool of 285 feature films eligible for consideration in the Animated Feature Film, Documentary Feature Film, and International Feature Film categories. Both 1489 and My Sweet Land by Jordanian-Armenian filmmaker Sareen Hairabedian were submitted for consideration in the Best Documentary Feature Film category. 1489 was initially submitted through Armenia’s official selection process but was not chosen. The Armenian National Film Academy opted to nominate Yasha and Leonid Brezhnev by Edgar Baghdasaryan instead, with 1489 receiving only three out of 43 votes from board members. Vardanyan later submitted the film individually, successfully landing it on the Oscars’ longlist for documentary consideration.
Both 1489 and My Sweet Land are now contenders for a place on the Oscar shortlist, which will be announced on December 17. The Academy will follow this with the announcement of nominations on January 17. The 97th Academy Awards will be held on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
With victories at prestigious festivals like IDFA and the Rome International Documentary Film Festival, as well as its presence on the Oscars longlist, 1489 continues to build momentum as one of the most powerful and poignant documentaries in recent years, shedding light on the human cost of the Artsakh conflict.
