Artavazd Peleshyan Biography: Books, Awards, Height, Age, Ethnicity, Movies, Net Worth, Wife

Artavazd Peleshyan is an Armenian filmmaker, a theorist, and a director who became famous for his pioneering work in creating a unique film language he termed “distance montage.”

This revolutionary technique, which transforms the structure of a film from a linear narrative into a circular or spherical poetic statement, sets his work apart within both documentary and avant-garde cinema.

His work garnered significant critical attention and solidified his status as an influential, though often reclusive, master of non-narrative film form.

Profile

• Full name: Artavazd Peleshyan
• Date of birth: February 22, 1938
• Age: 87 years old
• Gender: Male
• Place of birth: Leninakan, Armenian SSR, USSR (now Gyumri, Armenia)
• Nationality: Armenian
• Profession: Filmmaker, screenwriter, film theorist
• Parents: N/A
• Siblings: N/A
• Spouse: Aida Galstyan-Peleshyan (deceased)
• Children: N/A (Has two granddaughters)
• Relationship status: Widower
• Religion: N/A
• Ethnicity: Armenian
• Net worth: $1 million to $5 million

Early Life and Education

Artavazd Peleshyan, who is now at the age of 87, was born on February 22, 1938, in Leninakan, which is now known as Gyumri, Armenia. He spent his early years in this major industrial city, which had no cinemas at the time of his youth. Information regarding his specific parents, sisters, and brothers remains private.

He is of Armenian ethnicity. Before pursuing film studies, Peleshyan worked as a mechanical engineer in the nearby town of Kirovakan.

His formal education in filmmaking began at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow, widely considered one of the world’s oldest film schools. He attended the directing faculty and graduated from the institute in 1975.

Personal Life

Artavazd Peleshyan was married to Aida Galstyan-Peleshyan, who passed away in September 2024 at the age of 85 in Yerevan. Details on how they met or the specific timeline of their marriage are not public.

They have maintained a very private family life. While the names of their direct children are not available, it is known they are grandparents to two granddaughters.

Career

Artavazd Peleshyan’s career began in the Soviet Union after attending film school in Moscow. His work is primarily characterized by his invention of “distance montage,” an editing technique where recurring shots are spaced far apart in a film but resonate across the entire work to create a unified, emotional, and associative experience.

He has made numerous short and medium-length films, often using existing archive footage combined with new documentary scenes to craft what film critics describe as “film poems.”

His work, while acclaimed by fellow directors like Jean-Luc Godard and Sergei Parajanov, was often suppressed or under-distributed by Soviet authorities. Peleshyan has also authored significant theoretical texts on cinema, including the book Moyo kino (My Cinema) published in 1988.

He experienced a long professional hiatus from directing between 1993 and 2020, at which point he released his film Nature, co-produced by the Fondation Cartier for Contemporary Art.

Awards

• State Prize of the Armenian SSR (1970)
• Lenin Komsomol Prize (1979)
• Merited Artist of the Armenian SSR (1980)
• State Prize of the Russian Federation (1999)
• Lifetime Achievement Award from the IDFA International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (2007)
• Parajanov-Vartanov Institute Award (2014)

Net Worth

Artavazd Peleshyan’s net worth is approximately $1 million to $5 million US dollars. This estimate is derived from film production, book royalties, academic positions, and various international cultural awards.

Social Media

• N/A

Filmography

• Zemlya lyudey (Earth of Mankind) (1966)
• Skizbe (The Beginning) (1967)
• Menq (We) (1969)
• Obitateli (Inhabitants) (1970)
• Tarva yeghanakner (Seasons of the Year) (1975)
• Mer dari mard@ (Our Century) (1982)
• Verj (End) (1992)
• Kyanq (Life) (1993)
• Nature (2020)

Books

• Moyo kino (My Cinema) (1988)