Artavazd Peleschjan

Year of birth, place
1938, Gjumri, Armenia
Biography

[Artavazd Peleshyan]

Artavazd A. Peleshyan studied cinema at the VGIK (Cinematic Institute of Moscow) in the 1960s. It was not until later in his career that his films were recognized abroad, thanks to French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard who became his first and most ardent supporter. Today considered as one of the most important filmmakers of our time, he received the Scam Prize for Television for his whole work in 2000. Inventor of an experimental "un-editing" technique, Peleshyan threw aside the conventional rules of cinematography with his own contrapuntal editing. " Confronted with two important shots, the carriers of meaning, I do not try to bring them together, nor to confront them, but rather to create a distance between them..." Through this contrapuntal editing process, Peleshyan creates an original circular type of film radically renewing the art of cinema.
 

Selected Filmography

1993 »Life«, 7 min

1992 »End«, 8 min

1982 »Our Century«, 50 min (1990, short version, 30 min)

1975 »Seasons«, 32 min

1970 »Inhabitants«, 10 min

1969 »Us«, 30 min
 

Selectet Exhibitions/Screenings

2000 »un art populaire«, Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Paris

1993 »Retrospective«, Centre Pompidou, Paris

1992 Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris
 

Selected Bibliography

»Peleshian et le montage à distance«, Université de Poitiers, 1998

"Un language d'avant Babel, Conversation entre Artavazd Pelechian et Jean-Luc Godard," »Le Monde«, April 2, 1992

Domonique Païni, "Arthur Pelechian, cinéaste d'icônes", »Art Press«, January 1992

Jean-François Pigoullié, "Pelechian, le montage-mouvement," »Cahiers du Cinéma«, n°454, 1991

[2003]