Eleven years ago, Nora Martirosyan decided to make a fictional feature film, something she had never done before. Fast-forward to 2020-2021, the film has screened at the 73rd Cannes Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival and now the inaugural SPYFLIX Festival. Should the Wind Drop has been named the 2021 SPYFLIX Narrative Feature Winner, and we were thrilled to be able to speak to Nora about how this beautiful and moving film came to exist.

How and why did you become a filmmaker? Throughout that journey, what's become most important to you in telling a story? 

I did not consider myself to be a filmmaker until after I made this first film. So I guess you could say that I just became one recently! But now that I’ve made a film, and having always been a fan of cinema myself, I believe the cinema is not just about telling a story, but more about sharing the artist’s vision of a space, of a geography, of a state of mind. It is not WHAT is there, but HOW do I experience and understand the world that I want to share through my films. 

How did Should the Wind Drop come to exist? Why was Nagorno-Karabakh the backdrop of the film, and how true to life are the community's struggles and issues depicted in the film? 

I went to the self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh in 2009, and it really struck me that this country that I found to have infrastructures, borders, parliament, etc. did not have any international juridical existence! Google Maps didn't even confirm its physical existence. So I became inspired to make a film about that paradox, and about how the people in this country live with an unrealistic hope for recognition. 

Did the people of Nagorno-Karabakh respond warmly to the idea of making the film? Were any locals involved in the production? 

Ironically, the film itself which depicts their country’s landscapes, people, problems and dreams was recognition in a way! I tried to involve the people of Nagorno-Karabakh in the film as much as I could - the locals that I met during the 10 year period that I wrote and developed the film. I did use established actors, such as Grégoire Colin, but I also used amateurs who more or less played themselves, basically just reciting lines. I spent years going back and forth with a camera and sound recorder. I went to the towns and villages of Nagorno-Karabakh, and I met lots of people who always welcomed me. I wanted to depict their words and their hopes, and they were definitely warm to that. 

The physical airport plays an integral role - does that airport really exist (where you shot the film)? 

The airport exists, yes! Ready to function and yet not functioning - just as it is shown in the film. It had been in working order for years, but no planes took off or landed there for political reasons. I quickly understood that it was from this airport that I could centralize the challenges this region faces. I thought it was a strong metaphor - a country being ready to fly but forbidden to do so. 

How did you cast the role of Edgar? What was it like to nurture Hayk Bakhryan's performance? 

Edgar in a sense embodied the essence of the country as I perceived it and as I wanted others to understand. He sells a fictional story to the locals, and as they believe in this fiction it becomes their reality. I was looking for a boy that was still a “child” and who hides his profound motivations inside. I needed somebody that could believably keep his deep secrets from the outside world. And in some sense the character of the auditor is doing the same thing. 

In co-writing the film, what kind of research did you and/or your partner conduct? 

We tried to write a story about a country that is told through the characters, but also through physical spaces, architecture and landscapes. Therefore, we needed to be attentive to every detail and not to let the narrative plot take over that important essence of the film. 

Did either of you know much about aviation or airport management before the project? 

We knew nothing! But when we decided that the French character would be an airport auditor, I met with several aviation specialists, read a lot of documents to better understand how things work technically, etc..  

What would you like the SPYFLIX audience to take away from the film? 

The audience should take in the film and process it with their own subjectivity. That is the art of cinema’s greatest power, I believe. That said, when I read about the current events in the news, I am extremely troubled because I have the impression that my film has become, in spite of itself, an archive of a country under threat of disappearing. I hope that the audience that sees this film will wonder why we have closed our eyes on this conflict and why no one is doing anything. What is real today is much more terrifying than the most daring fiction. Everything that exists in this film, from the population to the landscapes, is now under threat of destruction.

What project(s) are you working on now?

I began working on a new film, and then the war took place in Nagorno-Karabakh in autumn of 2020 - that changed much of my certitudes of related subjects. I think my next film will be quite different. We'll see, I’m just now at the beginning of that new journey.