Our journey dedicated to creation continues while recognizing the power of emotional storytelling. Filmmakers use the power of storytelling to inspire change, raise awareness, and promote sustainable development.

And this is our story... we just wrapped up our first powerful round of production in Armenia. Shootings took place in various locations including Bjni, Hrazdan, Ijevan, Yeghvart, and Yerevan, where we witnessed a phenomenal performance by our cast and crew of Revival.

We are now gearing up for our second round of production in Europe… destination to be announced soon.

We have come this far due to the ongoing outpouring of support from our backers who continue to believe in our vision. Our production would not have been possible if without our supporters as well as the National Cinema Center of Armenia.

Our team is very much committed to doing everything we can to bring Revival to the big screen. The story of Revival must be told and seen by the world.

But how can we accomplish this task? Our next goal is to enable us to make the European shoots become a reality. We know that there are others who would like to join our backer's group and be a part of this project.

Along with our crowdfunding goal, we will be seeking additional funds and grants, as well as organizing more fundraising campaigns. We are committed to doing everything we can to bring Revival to life.

Therefore, the next 3 months are CRUCIAL. We hope to reach our next step of collecting the remaining $150K. We simply cannot do this without your support.

A lifelong PASSION for film continues to inspire us to create yet another film… our 4th! Our director Jivan Avetisyan who grew up in Artsakh has always been captivated by the world of cinema. Jivan’s fascination with film began when he was a little boy growing up in Khachmach, a village on the outskirts of Stepanakert. In fact, Jivan’s lifelong DREAM of creating a film in Khachmach was realized in 2015 with the production of our second feature film The Last Inhabitant, now streaming on Prime.

Jivan’s deep-rooted passion for filmmaking is what brought us to our first crowdfunding campaign on March 31, 2021! And now we are at the next phase. There is so much to be told! We need to REWRITE stories and share them with a mainstream audience. Artsakh will serve as the backdrop of the storyline of our new feature film project, Revival, a film that is thought-provoking, and mind-twisting, with several unexpected turns of events. Ohhhh and you will get to meet ORCHID… Murat’s creation!

Revival, over four years in the making, will be on your WATCHLIST in 2025… YES, filmmaking is a process!

LET’S DO THIS! We are CONFIDENT that we are on the right track with our film project!

Armenian international award-winning film director Jivan Avetisyan from Artsakh spent 38 horrifying days in Stepanakert in October 2020, documenting the war crimes committed against the Armenian population. He will be integrating his findings into our film project.

Jivan is not a stranger to the international cinematic world as his three previous feature films, Tevanik (also streaming on Amazon Prime), The Last Inhabitant, and Gate to Heaven have their own individual global success stories.

Gate to Heaven saw its theatrical release with the largest theatre chain in the world - AMC Theatres - across 9 states in the US. Gate to Heaven was included in AMC’s independent programming slate, which is a highly competitive program, and it only accepts 4-8 independent titles every year.

The film was also screened in Montreal at the Guzzo Mega-Plex Spheretech. The film ran from October 16, 2021, through November 4, 2021.

We will talk about Revival's developing path below in the section Challenges We Overcame.

Meanwhile, here are some noteworthy references from various media outlets!

Jivan Avetisyan's Interview and Gate to Heaven Film Review by Cineuropa. Moscow International Film Festival “Pulls Nagorno-Karabakh Drama Over Violence Worries” by Moscow Times. Also, check out Gate to Heaven’s review on One Film Fan which was written on the occasion of the film’s release with AMC cinemas in the selected cities in the US, October 2022. Avetisyan also was honoured with the ANCA-ER Freedom Award at its 16th Annual Gala in 2022.

MURAT ARAKELIAN (27), a brilliant engineering student at the University of Marseille, under the supervision of Professor JEAN PERBOST (56), is working on an innovative AI (Artificial Intelligence) project, ORCHID (ORganizer of CHaotic Input Data) to partake in the competition/exhibition organized by the University.

The normal course of creative development of Murat’s project is interrupted when Murat receives a letter at his mother's, ARAKSI ARAKELIAN’s (52) house, during dinner, at which his girlfriend, ISABELLE MOREL (23), an anthropology student and his professor were also present. The letter states that Murat’s mother broke her promise to tell Murat the whole truth about himself and his father. Murat starts searching for anything connecting with that letter with the help of his ORCHID system, and he realizes that the information he heard from his mother years ago about his father and his death was a lie. Unable to find out the motives for lying from his hospitalized mother, and ignoring his professor’s urges not to dig into the past, but instead to complete his project, Murat leaves for Armenia/Artsakh to get the answers to his questions, with his girlfriend. The search is full of unanswered questions.

We are currently in the most intense stage of Revival's creation. The effectiveness of this stage will determine the success of the entire production process.

The National Cinema Center of Armenia, Fish eye Art Cultural Foundation, Armenia, ARTsakh Arts and Cultural Foundation, US, "Artbox" Production House, Lithuania, and the Executive Producer funded development and the pre-production phase of Revival, for a total of $51,700.

With the help of the same entities, and the addition of other donors, supporters, and investors, we were able to complete our Armenian production budget of $150K.

What’s next? European Production, a budget of 150K USD.

We want you to feel that you are part of this BIG production! Be a backer and receive one of our specially selected PERKs! Find the new perks on the right side of the page. We have customized a selection of tiered rewards!

Spread the word and share our links! We can DO THIS TOGETHER… for a second round!

I have always been captivated by the world of cinema. I not only want to create international films but also want, along with my team, to advance the cinematic world in Armenia.

As of today, the integration of Armenian film production into the European and global systems is a big challenge. However, my goal is to create films that will appeal strongly to an international audience. REVIVAL is my fourth full-length feature film as an Armenian film director. My main aim and concern is to create a true, powerful, and honest story. Eventually, we aim to create an artistic reality to which more viewers can relate.

In the film, I have presented fragments and glimpses of the stories that I have heard, read, witnessed, and memorized at different times. In a sense, the film is based on actual, lived stories and historical events – and the 2020 Artsakh War. The narratives are intertwined in an interesting way and become a part of a completed single continuous chain. These stories are presented, for example, as the protagonist’s storyline, or as elements or episodes in the stories of other characters.

A new level of artificial intelligence will be introduced. It will be a motion picture with a strong science-fiction component, with one of its main protagonists that is undergoing a significant “personal” evolution - an AI system known as ORCHID (ORganiser of CHaotic Input Data).

The action in the film takes place in Armenia, France, Israel, and Iceland. The first phase of shootings took place in Armenia and the second phase will take place in Europe. I believe the actions taking place in one area should be reflecting all the colouring of that very area. Thus, it will further strengthen the idea that the issues raised by the film are universal and can refer to any person, regardless of gender, nationality, religion, and citizenship.

I am a person of strong conviction in that I want my films to continue to provide hope to the audience, and help facilitate their own personal journeys while valuing every living moment, I aim with my films to inspire a strong determination to achieve their own dreams․

– Jivan Avetisyan

ORCHID is a mnemonic name (ORganizer of CHaotic Input Data) of the AI system designed, trained and continuously improved by Murat (the main character) throughout the film.

It is originally based on classical AI design, with the intent to serve patients in palliative care. However, as Murat trains it to include more and more human traits, teaches it to empathize, to care, to develop emotions and attachments, to have a unique way of experiencing the external world, then ORCHID embarks on a self-evolutionary path that goes beyond what is planned. It develops a personality and takes on various tasks of documenting the horrors of the recent war and storing them via global networks in the Marseille University cybernetics lab servers.

There are a lot of fascinating events happening around ORCHID and Murat, where we can witness the progress of the AI system's evolution.

Filmmaking is a challenging process that comes with many obstacles that one needs to overcome. Prior to the development stage of REVIVAL in October 2018, we conducted extensive research on various topics that became the foundation for multiple storylines. With this information, we developed the concept of Revival. To begin the development stage of REVIVAL in October 2018, we conducted extensive research on various topics which were considered important for humanity in the near future. It helped us choose important directions that became the foundation for multiple storylines and development of the concept of Revival.

By February of 2020, we had a final draft of the treatment, and Jivan Avetisyan rocked the Berlinale Talents 2020, a talent program within the framework of the Berlin International Film Festival. Jivan was selected amongst 3,400 applicants to attend, Berlinale Talents 2020 with our new film project Revival. Jivan, as a Berlinale Talent 2020, was also selected by the reputable German international broadcast Deutsche Welle to be the subject of a documentary.

Revival also received the following shout-out from Roy W. Dean - Summer 2020 Grant, From Heart Productions: “Thanks for sending us your brilliant film to review. We have sincerely enjoyed reading your work. The film has been selected in the category of "Hot Films in the Making". We know that this film has excellent potential. We will host your film on our website for a year to help you promote it and to help you raise funds.”

However, just like everyone else, in 2020 we had many obstacles to overcome. The onset of COVID-19 in March brought troubles and difficulties to the entire world but coupled with the heavy losses of the Artsakh 2020 War, made it even more emotionally difficult for our team to create our film.

During the lockdown period, we utilized the time to develop the script and story, which underwent several changes due to the events we experienced. As mentioned above, Jivan spent 38 days in October in different regions of Artsakh. He photographed and recorded the armed conflict and the reality of the war. These findings had to be integrated into the new script, and the creative team got to experience an ever-evolving powerful film project that is well on its way to completion.

Based on that the previously developed war storyline of 2016 in the film was reworked with the events of 2020․

It required a lot of hard work, determination, and a strong will to move forward after the 2020 horrors, in order to show the world the reality and tragedy that we all underwent.

Our 8th draft of the script consists of all the changes, including the adaptation of Marseille's atmosphere and culture, with all its emotional nuances. As mentioned, we finished the Armenian production phase and are determined to reach our final stretch goal. We will not give up!

We now have the completed final script, and, as mentioned above, we finished the Armenian production phase and are determined to reach our goal. We won't give up. So let the MAGIC begin!

Our next step is to continue shooting the story we've spent a long time preparing... so we can complete this extraordinary film and see it become a reality.

Revival touches upon the themes of peace and identity, which are eternally actual and universal. Exploration of freedom and “internal freedom” with the backdrop of war. Exploration of choices we make in life, looking for peace, within yourself. Universal themes that will resonate with all audiences. A key element of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is also added to the story, which is also relevant to how AI continuously learns and adapts in a world of conflicts. Co-production between European countries will help to widen the audience.

Thanks to all the above-mentioned points we hope to achieve big success in the international distribution area. We are planning that the film will have a traditional distribution circle – festivals like (the Cannes Film Festival, Berlinale, etc.), cinema theatres (AMC), TV, and VODs (HBO, Netflix, SBS, etc.)

1. What is the film about?

In a story, where true identity is born out of the darkness of the past, the plot follows one woman’s secret which forces three destinies to intertwine when a diasporan young robotics student living in France is determined to root out the truth of his father’s wartime death in Artsakh... his girlfriend, a young Frenchwoman sets out to reunite with her estranged volcanologist father in Iceland to trace her indigenous Canadian roots... his esteemed French professor, a descendant of a Holocaust survivor, reclaims his abandoned Jewish roots in Israel in search of the meaning of life. Along the way, the hardships they face force them to make sacrifices that bring them closer to their true identities... Along the way, an artificial intelligence system evolves via their hardships and forced sacrifices that bring them closer to their true identities․

2. When will the film production begin in Europe?

Production in Europe will be held in 2024.

3. When will the movie be released?                                                                          

The release date earmarked for January, 2025․ It will be announced.

4. Is there any big-name talent in the film?

Of course! We have many talented and well-regarded Armenian actors and actresses that will make great appearances in the film along with an international cast like Robin Hairabian and Clémence Baudouin from France. More to come!

5. How is the budget determined? 

The budget is determined based on our past practices of making our previous films. Additionally, each producer from his or her respective country provided a cost analysis based on the needs of the production. These cost analyses are then taken into consideration when creating a budget.

6. When will my perks be available?

It depends on which perk you selected. You can always check the delivery date accordingly in the right section of the page. However, once the film is completed in 2025 all perks will be available/delivered.

7. How will I get my digital download?

When the time arrives, we will e-mail you a link to download the film.

8. When will the DVDs be shipped and/or become available?

For the previous film DVDs, we will deliver them within about 6 months after purchasing and claiming the perk. Revival’s DVD will be delivered when the film is completed.

9. You are continuing the previous campaign. What is new with this one?

The previous campaign focused mainly on the development and pre-production stages for the Armenian production phase. Now, we are shifting our focus towards the European production phase, which is equally important to bring this film to life. To ensure that our new backers are aware of the process, we have decided to continue the campaign on Indiegogo InDemand instead of opening a new page. In the project's description and introduction video, we have some exciting new offers for our audience that you can learn more about.

10. Can I follow the process by email and/or Social Media

Of course, you can get in touch with us by writing us an email. Additionally, you can follow Revival's page on Facebook, Twitter (X), and Instagram to keep up with our updates. For more information, please visit Fish Eye Art's website.