Short Film, 2024
Symptom Error
Embodying the dreams and poetics of a post-Soviet generation, two young Armenian women share their politics of justice and feminism with the world through their music.
Synopsis
Embodying the dreams and ideologies of a post-Soviet generation, Sona and Amassia meet in high school and form an experimental electronica band called Symptom Error. They soon become well known amongst younger generations for their underground shows, which are often disrupted by sexist and homophobic discrimination and police intervention. Reflected in their experiences is the reality of limited safe space for young folks to gather, be creative, share their art and stories, and collaborate – especially those living on the fringes of Armenian society. The stakes get higher on the eve of the Velvet Revolution. Thousands take to the streets, largely led by youth and students, becoming the most prolific revolutionary movement in contemporary Armenian history.
Sona and Amassia are the first amongst their friends to join the crowds, filled with the hopeful potential of transforming a corrupt sociopolitical system. In this way, the poetics shared through Symptom’s music evoke the very dreams generated through resistance movements and revolutions, insisting that social and political change will lead to a more liberated world for all.
Under the weight of all this pressure, Sona and Amasia continue to express themselves through music. They also seek refuge on the rooftops of buildings, free from social limitations and safe from observing eyes.
In this sanctuary, they dream of a liberated future and lead a more carefree life. They write music, call in spirits, dye their hair, and play silly games.
As the people of Armenia feel the waves of the Velvet Revolution for years to come, we follow Symptom through their rise to fame. For Sona and Amasia, the pandemic was not the only crisis they faced in recent years – there was also a war in Artsakh (also known as Nagorno-Karabakh) and Armenia’s struggle against ongoing Azeri aggressions. Through all this, Symptom never stopped making music, and their dreams take shape as they prepare for their first international tour.
Symptom Error is driven by their shared and respective struggles and dreams as young, revolutionary musicians who are surviving and thriving by way of an experimental and politicized artistic practice.
About Symptom Error
Symptom Error are an electro-experimental duo active since 2017. Sona Khachatryan (producer) and Amassia Niziblian (vocalist) met as students in school, growing as individual artists in their own discipline and developing an instinctive understanding with each other as musicians. In their own words, “When Symptom Error was first created it played the role of a safe space for us. Through creating sound and writing lyrics we were able to find moments to express our rage, love, and presence: actions which hid inside of the scars that society constantly marks us with. As Symptom Error began to expand and perform more actively in underground locations, it has now somehow become a safe space for our audience in Yerevan as well. We make music intuitively. Meditating on each sound and word has been our core technique.”
Since forming five years ago, Symptom Error now regularly perform at festivals all over Armenia as well as intimate concert settings in historical landmarks like the Komitas State Conservatory. Their goal today is to expand their audience overseas and, through building this solidarity, become ambassadors of the LGBTQ+ community in the Caucasus region.
Amassia Niziblian (vocalist) is currently studying her last year of Bachelors in Fine Art and Experimental Media in Prague, Czech Republic. She has had her first solo Exhibition at HayArt Cultural Center, funded by Women’s Fund of Armenia, where she exhibited 22 illustrations from her visual diary along with 3 video collages and 2 short animations with the same theme.
Sona Khachatryan (producer) is studying film in the Yerevan Institute of Theatre and Cinematography. She completed her documentary this year, which explores the transition of a city girl to teach in a borderline village. Her film ‘Ani from Planet Namseki’ has been privately screened once at the House of Film. Sona studied piano for 7 years and she was also the drummer of an all female Armenian metal band.
About the Filmmaker
Kamee arrives in the world today as an interdisciplinary artist, writer, producer, performer, director, organizer, caregiver, queerdo, waitress, and witch. Born into an Armenian family displaced from the SWANA region and grown in an immigrant suburb of Toronto, their work is steeped with relational and generative practices oriented towards ancestral reclamation, visionary fiction, and diasporic futurism. Kamee holds degrees in cinema, poli-sci, art therapy, and community and liberation psychology. Kamee has created, produced, toured, and presented a vast body of work that includes workshop facilitation, visual and media art, staged and immersive performances and exhibitions, magazines, anthologies, and films. Their projects have been supported by local and national funding bodies across Canada, USA and Armenia. They’re a Pushcart nominated writer and literary alumni at VONA and Banff Center for Arts, as well as a prize-winning theater maker whose plays were published in anthologies that received a Lambda award. The documentaries Kamee has produced have been supported by Sundance, Visions du Réel, HotDocs, and Catapult. Their short “Transmission” premiered at BFI FLARE and screened at multiple festivals, and their proof of concept film for their upcoming series “Ensouled” most recently premiered at Outfest Fusion.
Credits
Created by Kamee Abrahamian in collaboration with Vahagn Khatchatryan and Aren Malakyan
Directed by Kamee Abrahamian
Cinematography by Dominic Montesano and Aren Malakyan
Editing by Kamee Abrahamian
Associate editing by Dominic Montesano and Aren Malakyan
Original music by Symptom Error
Sound design by Armen Bazarian
Translation by Satenig Mirzoyan and Meri Davtian
We would like to acknowledge funding support from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the Government of Ontario for their support.
Contact the filmmaker at lorikamee (at) gmail (dot) com