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Armenia has joined the global visual trend Born From Culture, bringing together a traditional dance, authentic national costumes and some of the country’s most iconic locations with contemporary pop culture and Future’s “Mask Off.” The Armenian version was created by the Black Flight team, led by director and cinematographer Avo Harutyunyan, who spoke to NEWS.am STYLE about the idea behind presenting Armenia through a popular international format.

Born From Culture is a visual project by Australian choreographer and director James Fenwick that began in Georgia before quickly evolving into an international cultural flash mob. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Samoa, New Zealand and other participants have taken the same musical foundation — Future’s “Mask Off” — and transformed it into their own portrait of a country through dance, costume and location.

The Armenian version presents the country almost like a cinematic kaleidoscope: traditional costumes appear alongside the rugged stone of ancient monasteries, silver ornaments and elaborate headdresses catch the light in motion, while the dance moves from historic settings into Armenia’s open landscapes. The result is a compact visual portrait of the country, one in which its culture can be read first through the eyes, before the finer details come into focus.

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Публикация от Black Flight (@avo_black_flight)

“The main idea was to take part in the trend and present Armenia. Not simply to show it through the very common dance shots, but to feature Sevanavank, Saghmosavank, the Matenadaran and Armenia’s nature,” Harutyunyan told NEWS.am STYLE. According to him, the entire shoot took just a day and a half.

The Armenian version also went beyond simply reproducing the original format. In addition to the dance sequence, the creators incorporated the duduk and lavash as elements intended to emphasize the specifically Armenian identity of the video. As Harutyunyan notes, the Georgian and Uzbek versions are among the most viewed entries in the trend, ranking first and second in terms of views, but neither featured elements of this kind. The team therefore decided to add them to its own version while preserving the overall concept of Born From Culture. Harutyunyan also emphasizes that other countries have created their own versions, each interpreting and presenting its national culture in its own way.

The shoot took place across several locations, and filming at historical sites required the team to secure permits in advance.

“We weren't allowed to film inside the main church. We went to Saghmosavank, spoke with the priest and explained exactly what we wanted to do. We were given permission to film under certain conditions,” Harutyunyan recalls.

Permission was also required to film at the Matenadaran. Weather added another challenge: whenever it started raining, the team had to wait. And this is perhaps the most surprising part — the entire production was completed in just a day and a half. That meant fitting numerous locations, transfers, arrangements and shooting requirements into an extremely tight schedule, ultimately producing not simply a short social-media video but something closer to a silent short film about Armenia, in which the country speaks for itself through architecture, costumes, dance and landscape.

Speaking about the response to the video, Harutyunyan points to the interest it has generated among international viewers. He believes that seeing Armenia’s cultural and historical heritage may encourage foreign audiences to visit the country.

“They can see our cultural and historical side and want to come here. I can see that in the comments: foreigners write that they like our country and our culture. In a sense, we have communicated something historical and cultural and drawn attention to it.”

The project brought together dancers and instructors, as well as children from a dance group. Black Flight and Avo Harutyunyan were responsible for the direction, cinematography and post-production; the dance sequences were created by Sardaryan Dance Studio, while the costumes were prepared by ARMAT photo studio.

Liana Aghajanyan

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