“A director has to be open to new information, to learn, and to recognize new things. He has to always get something out of everyone and everything. Just as cooks have to know all the spices or chemists need to know the proportions of things to be mixed, similarly directors have to know about life, to be able to synthesize and discover the right proportion. Being a director isn’t just a job, it’s a way of life.” – TUMOian Narek Mikayelyan has been aware of all this about his chosen profession for a long time.

Narek revealed his endless love for film from the very first level of TUMO’s filmmaking learning labs, when the workshop leader noticed Narek’s clearly excellent skills in editing. Later, when he found himself in Mko Malkhasyan’s workshop, Narek’s immersion in his selected role of director began. “The experience of Mko’s workshop was huge when it came to developing all of my directorial skills. That was the most inspiring workshop I have ever participated in,” Narek says.

“After the TUMO workshops, thanks to Judith Saryan, I got to take part in the shooting of a film by director Meg Pierre, which was an interesting experience in getting to see the film production process.” In fact, impressed by Narek’s active and dedicated work, Judith Saryan presented him with his very first piece of professional equipment – a camera – with which he started filming his new movie.

FUN FACT

Narek currently spends his entire time on film, not only shooting movies, but watching them as well. The perfect director according to him is Darren Aronofsky. “My favorite film I can say for sure is ‘Requiem for a Dream’ – I could watch it forever.” Blown away by his top choice, Narek not only got to meet Aaronofsky at TUMO recently, but even managed to ask him a couple of questions about filmmaking.