“I Am Not Alone” wins Audience Award at TIFF
9/15/2019
Premiering earlier this week, I AM NOT ALONE was a breakout film at the Toronto International Film Festival, winning first-runner up for the The Grolsch People’s Choice Documentary Award and garnering rave reviews.
From the Hollywood Reporter:
“Had they unfolded in a work of fiction, the events of I Am Not Alone might be hard to buy. Over a mere 40 days, one man’s cross-country walk to protest political corruption draws a small following that blossoms into huge gatherings and acts of civil disobedience, ultimately taking down Armenia’s authoritarian regime. Not only that, but in what might otherwise be considered a heavy touch of Hollywood corn, this people’s power movement gains an adorable, loyal mascot in the form of a stray dog who joins the march on day one.
These recent events, not widely reported in the United States, are captured from the impassioned front lines as well as the more calmly considered aftereffects in Garin Hovannisian’s eye-opening documentary. Filming alongside the movement’s leader from the first days of the 2018 rebellion, and incorporating footage recorded by citizen journalists and phone-wielding protesters, the director manages to convey personal and national histories in succinct fashion. He’s less interested in political specifics, which aren’t always clear, than in a communal sense of awakening. In this heightened political moment, the film (whose executive producers include Joe Berlinger and System of a Down’s Serj Tankian) will likely find eager audiences on the fest circuit and beyond for its compelling vision of contemporary nonviolent revolution.”