Amerikatsi

Amerikatsi (Ամերիկացի) is a 2022 Armenian comedy-drama film written, edited, directed by, and starring Michael A. Goorjian. The film is about an Armenian-American who repatriates to the Armenian SSR after World War II and ends up in a Soviet prison.

The film premiered at Woodstock Film Festival in 2022, winning the Best Narrative Feature award. It received positive reviews. It was also selected as the Armenian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.

Synopsis
Armenian-American repatriate Charlie Bakhchinyan is arrested for the absurd crime of wearing a tie in Soviet Armenia. Alone in solitary confinement, he soon discovers that he can see inside of an apartment building near the prison from his cell window. By watching the native Armenian couple living in the apartment, day in and day out, Charlie soon discovers everything he returned to Armenia for.

Amerikatsi is about hope and the art of survival in the worst of conditions.

Cast

 * Michael A. Goorjian as Charlie
 * Hovik Keuchkerian as Tigran
 * Nelli Uvarova as Sona
 * Mikhail Trukin as Dmitry
 * Narine Grigoryan as Ruzan
 * Jean-Pierre Nshanian as Warden Sargisyan

Release
Amerikatsi won the Best Narrative Feature award at the Woodstock Film Festival, the Audience Award at the Hamburg Film Festival, and the Best Narrative Feature at the Beloit International Film Festival.

It holds a 89% "Fresh" rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes based on 28 reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10. Alan Ng of Film Threat, who gave the film a positive score for example, argued that the story brings "humor and levity to a solemn subject." Film critic Richard Propes says Amerikatsi is a "film of tremendous spirit and hope."