The woozy beauty of ‘Lullaby for the Mountains’: On Béla Tarr, Armenian landscapes, and the cinema of drifting

Lullaby for the Mountains is simply a debut that runs connected trust. Shot connected determination and backed by Béla Tarr arsenic enforcement producer, it has travelled from Sheffield DocFest to its Asian premiere astatine the International Film Festival of India 2025 arsenic the lone Armenian selection. The wordless, 79-minute drift, divided into 15 chapters, follows a lone fig done Armenia’s highlands and monasteries. That figure, is filmmaker Hayk Matevosyan’s father.

My archetypal brushwood with Lullaby for the Mountains was besides my archetypal clip wrong the strange, hybrid assemblage ammunition of Macquinez Hall astatine the nervus centre of IFFI successful Panjim. I had picked this astir random Béla Tarr–backed docu-montage arsenic 1 of my earlier screenings, lured successful by the committedness of an audio-visual marvel to baptise the week. What I got alternatively was a slower, stealthier benignant of concern that overwhelmed successful the astir unexpected ways. Over 79 minutes I drifted successful and retired of wakefulness, slipping into a light, enchanted semi-haze wherever whispers bounced disconnected stone, bird-call and h2o flowing done streams folded into each other, and the astir haunting liturgical voices seeped done the hallway similar incense. It became 1 of the astir disarming theatrical experiences I had each festival, due to the fact that it made remainder itself consciousness legitimate.

There is thing truthful intimate astir being truthful thoroughly astatine easiness successful a nationalist cinema, your assemblage unclenching successful the acheronian portion a ample radical of strangers astir you surrender to the aforesaid tranquillity. The movie kept investigating that pact. By its close, astir a 3rd of the initially packed hallway had trickled retired successful small, impatient migrations, leaving down a thinner congregation that felt oddly monastic. Staying till the extremity carried a peculiar benignant of complaint that went beyond cinephilic diligence. It felt earned, and a small sacred, astir similar a blessing. I deliberation I yet understood what Béla Tarr might’ve been nudging america toward each on (Sátántangó, you tremendous beast, I deliberation I’m yet ready).

As the writer-director-cinematographer-editor, the operation for the movie lived successful Hayk’s caput agelong earlier it took signifier successful the edit. “I knew earlier filming that the movie would beryllium chopped into chapters,” Hayk says successful a aboriginal interview. “But I didn’t person the nonstop number of however galore chapters we’d extremity up with.”

For a portion helium considered spelling things out. “I had ideas of having immoderate voice-over narration during the editing stage,” helium admits. “I yet understood that I wanted to trust afloat connected the visuals and soundscape to transportation the film’s rhythm.” The task past was to marque that bushed coherent. “I’d accidental the hardest portion of the editing process was uncovering the close tempo for the scenes and figuring retired however those scenes could intertwine connected a much dramaturgical level and marque consciousness successful the satellite I created.”

That satellite is made of churches hollowed by centuries, alongside gravestones, plateaus, and underground passages that predate him. Walking into these Armenian landscapes, helium admits to person felt a committedness beyond his ain story. “Of course, I bash consciousness an obligation,” helium says. “Whenever we were successful a circumstantial location, we wouldn’t conscionable leap into filming. My filming benignant is simply a spot different. I similar to walk clip successful the place, and that’s what I really learned from Béla Tarr. He would promote you not to unreserved and conscionable beryllium astatine the location. He’d accidental that the determination is 1 of the astir important characters of the film.”

On galore days, the unit was simply father, son, and camera. One of the film’s astir tender images came retired of that waiting, changeable successful the colony his gramps comes from, wherever his begetter lies sleeping connected the ground. “That country came to beryllium connected the spot; it was a precise spontaneous infinitesimal wherever some my begetter and I felt similar we wanted to prevarication down connected the land,” Hayk recalls. “I enactment the camera successful betwixt america and conscionable filmed my begetter asleep, hugging the land.”

He had ne'er worked arsenic a cinematographer earlier – connected shorts and euphony videos helium relied connected his longtime collaborator Justin Richards. When Richards could not question to Armenia, Hayk picked up the camera himself and brought him backmost successful aboriginal arsenic the film’s colourist. “That signifier of post-production is creatively precise important for me, since you commencement looking astatine the images arsenic a painter,” helium says. “Working with Justin connected it was similar looking astatine a cleanable canvas and re-coloring scenes to springiness a new, much surreal, dreamy code to the visuals.”

The imagination logic is reinforced in-camera, and the occasionally comic warped distortions of a leaning equine and elongated bodies, travel from determination much private. “The thought of utilizing distorted lenses and having the scenery and characters look much elongated and warped came from my dreams,” helium says. “The dreams I spot usually person visuals that are distorted, overmuch similar successful the film, truthful I benignant of wanted to recreate the images successful my movie arsenic adjacent to my dreams arsenic possible.”

In this scheme, radical beryllium to the terrain. “In the movie the radical oregon they mightiness adjacent beryllium spirits, are similar landscapes,” helium says. “For me, the quality look is arsenic absorbing arsenic a landscape, truthful determination were shots successful the movie that I tried to juxtapose the quality look with the scenery oregon past churches. And utilizing wide lenses adjacent for adjacent ups helped to get a precise unsocial mode of seeing the tactile affectional authorities of the look and eyes.”

Word had already travelled that audiences sometimes drift disconnected during the film. Some person said trance, others accidental slumber — it was a signifier I’d already lived done successful Macquinez Hall. Given the title, the drowsy drift feels astir intentional, and Hayk seems wholly astatine easiness with some responses. “I’m precise unfastened to immoderate mentation the assemblage comes to,” helium says. “I myself emotion the films wherever I could autumn asleep, dream, and aftermath up and astir consciousness similar my imagination is continuing connected a large surface portion watching the film.”

Hayk’s scepticism toward film-school orthodoxy is shaped by 2 names that loom implicit the project: Werner Herzog and Béla Tarr. He met the legendary auteurs successful antithetic corners of the world. “With Werner, it was successful 2018 successful a Peruvian Jungle, wherever we made a abbreviated movie nether his guidance. And successful 2019, I made different abbreviated successful Locarno nether the mentorship of Béla.” While their methods whitethorn person diverged, what stayed with him was their halfway ethic. “What some of them person successful communal and perpetually would archer is to not hold for the close clip to marque a film, and to not travel circumstantial industry-set rules connected however to marque a film. They would ever propulsion for risk-taking.”

Producer Luiza Yeranosyan, his spouse astatine Dolly Bell Films, applied that acquisition to the budget. “Our method for this movie was a spot unorthodox,” she says. “Hayk had a precise wide imaginativeness and a passionateness to marque this film, and helium had a circumstantial clip framework successful which helium wanted to marque it. Instead of taking the way of applying and waiting for authorities oregon nationalist funds, we financed the movie done our company, and besides secured backstage investments.”

They spent clip with locals successful each portion of Armenia they visited, moving done places that were already portion of Hayk’s representation from puerility trips with his father. “There was a communal respect erstwhile filming — respect toward the people, toward the land, and toward the past sites and churches. The movie is simply a emotion missive to Armenia, to the culture, to the onshore itself, truthful determination was nary different mode than to let the radical and the onshore to judge america archetypal earlier we adjacent started filming immoderate shots.”

Even now, days later, I drawback myself wafting backmost to that country successful Panjim, with the faint echo of chants, and memories of those vignettes of antheral curled into the earth. And sure, if I did drift disconnected for a section oregon two, Lullaby for the Mountains ne'er held it against me, which mightiness beryllium the astir generous happening a movie tin do.

Lullaby for the Mountains was screened astatine the 56th International Film Festival of India successful Goa