Utah Filmmaker Showcase

Utah Filmmaker Showcase: There Was, There Was Not

November 19, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Location: Utah Film Center
Free

Featuring a post-film panel with the film’s director, Emily Mkrtichian, and Associate Professor of Humanities and International Studies at Salt Lake Community College, Claire Adams.

THERE WAS, THERE WAS NOT follows four women living in the Republic of Artsakh, an unrecognized country reckoning with the aftermath of one war while on the precipice of another. In the midst of this uncertainty, four women build a life with the hope of making their home a better place. When war breaks out again, what began as an observational meditation on women’s roles after conflict becomes an urgent and intimate record of their lives interrupted once again by war. From taking up arms on the front lines to fleeing their homes as refugees, each woman’s life changes irrevocably. Their journey becomes the myth of a homeland lost forever, and the power of story to keep it alive.

Claire Adams

Panelist, Associate Professor of Humanities and International Studies

Claire Adams was born in Belfast, in the North of Ireland, and moved to the U.S. in 2007. She is first and foremost a proud single mum of 3 adult awesome humans. She is also an Associate Professor of Humanities and International Studies and Interim Associate Dean of Humanities and Languages at Salt Lake Community College. Claire obtained a bachelor’s degree in Modern Studies in the Humanities from Ulster University, a master’s in Irish Cultural Studies from Queen’s University, Belfast, and has 5 years of PhD study at Ulster University in Language and Literature. In 2018, she earned a master’s degree in International Affairs and Global Enterprise from the University of Utah, where she is currently a PhD candidate.

Claire has been involved with refugee advocacy in Salt Lake City for approximately. 10 years working with agencies such as the International Rescue Committee and Catholic Community Services. She received the Lieutenant Governor’s Volunteer award for her efforts and the American Society for Public Administration Distinguished Service award for Outstanding Contribution to Public Administration. She was formerly on the Board of Directors for the Utah Pride Center and the board of directors for the Utah/Nevada chapter of the Red Cross.

Emily Mkrtichian

Director, Producer, Director of Photography


Emily Mkrtichian is a filmmaker and interdisciplinary collaborator whose artistic practice reflects
her upbringing in a displaced, diasporic family, and explores radically personal, alternative
archives of places and people, especially from the SWANA region, and a deep commitment to the
healing power of relational, ethical, collaborative storytelling. Her films include the sci-fi short
Transmission, which premiered at the BFI Flare Film Festival, the short documentary Motherland,
which premiered at the Full Frame Film Festival and won Best Short Documentary at the
Copenhagen International Film Festival, and her debut feature documentary THERE WAS, THERE
WAS NOT, which has been supported by the Sundance Institute, IDA, Chicken & Egg Pictures and
HotDocs.

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