Vardan Hakobyan

Vardan Hakobyan (aka Vardan Akobyan), was born on January 14, 1977 . From 1995 to 1997 he studied in the faculty of Film Directing at the Yerevan State Pedagogical Institute, where as a freshman he directed his first short film "C'est la vie." This film was selected to participate in several prestigious international film festivals and was awarded with the jury special prize at the Premiers Plans Film Festival in Angers, France in 1997. From 1997 to 2003 he studied at the Directing department of the Russian State University of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow, in the studio of Karen Shakhnazarov, then of Andrei Eshpai. During his studies, he managed to shoot three films, which were also marked at international film festivals - "I love you," "Chizhik" ("Siskin") and diploma film "Duduk." The film "Duduk," apart from international festivals, received the highest appraisal - Grand Prix at the International Festival of VGIK in 2002. After graduation he began active directing career and immediately loudly declared himself by short film "My name is happiness" (2006) and, particularly, by his debut feature film "Platon" (2008). The latter was shown in movie theaters of the Russian Federation as well as abroad and received critical acclaim. Other notable works of Vardan Hakobyan include romantic comedy "Kiss through the wall" and the TV series "Teachers".