I’M GOING TO CHANGE MY NAME (ALAVERDI)
(Это не я)
dir. Maria Saakyan, 2012
Armenia/Russia. 103 min.
In Russian with English subtitles.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3 - 7:30 PM
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9 - 10 PM
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15 - 7:30 PM
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 26 - 5 PM

Set in the small North Armenian town of Alaverdi, I’M GOING TO CHANGE MY NAME sees the neglected, aimless, isolated 14-year-old Evridika experiencing the first extremes of adolescent emotion as she frequents the chat rooms of an online “suicide club” and grows closer to one of its mysterious members. Partially based on the nine-part song ‘Sharakan’ (which Evridika’s absent mother is also touring with her choir), partially based on disoriented fragments of Eurydice’s imprisonment and Oedopis’ tragedy, Maria’s haunted film examines youth’s connection to reality through screens and lo-fi cell phone footage. A quintessential film in the “depression as boredom” canon, is it possible to exist if no one sees you? If no one touches you?