‘Lullaby for the Mountains’ to Make Asian Premiere at IFFI, Showcasing Hayk Matevosyan’s Dreamlike Debut

Variety exclusively unveils a new clip from “Lullaby for the Mountains,” the debut feature from Armenian filmmaker Hayk Matevosyan, set to make its Asian premiere at the 56th International Film Festival of India (IFFI). The film is the sole Armenian selection at this year’s festival.

Executive produced by Hungarian auteur Béla Tarr, the contemplative work world premiered at Sheffield DocFest 2025 in the International First Feature Competition. The film is structured into 15 dreamlike chapters, chronicling a spectral journey across Armenia’s rugged highlands.

Shot entirely on location, the wordless narrative follows an unnamed figure navigating ancient monasteries, mountain landscapes, and underground chambers, blurring the line between reality and dreams.

In an interview with Variety, Matevosyan describes the film as a meditation on collective memory and loss, highlighting the significance of its IFFI premiere.

“What makes this Asian premiere so special is the deep connection between Armenian and Indian culture that goes back centuries,” he says. “Armenian communities have long lived in cities like Kolkata and Chennai, and the cultural exchange has always been mutual.”

Matevosyan frames the film as an exploration of displacement and cultural memory, “For me, Lullaby for the Mountains is about ghosts drifting through the land, collective memory, and the quiet traces of lives that have passed and those still to come.”

Tarr’s involvement originated from Matevosyan’s participation in the 2019 Locarno Spring Academy Directing Residency, where he made a short film under Tarr’s mentorship.

“Spending time with him really changed how I approach filmmaking,” Matevosyan recalls. “He opened my eyes to a new way of thinking about image, atmosphere, landscape, and characters.”

The filmmaker highlights Tarr’s unconventional mentoring philosophy: “He dislikes the words ‘teaching’ or ‘education’ and always says he is here to liberate us, not to educate.” During the residency, Tarr showed Matevosyan Caspar David Friedrich’s paintings without commentary, prompting him to rethink cinematic images as visual art rather than mere narrative tools.

As executive producer, Tarr reviewed multiple cuts and encouraged bold aesthetic decisions, which led Matevosyan to eliminate voice-over narration, allowing the film’s soundscape and visuals to carry the narrative independently. “Ultimately, Béla gave me the courage to make my debut film without worrying about cinematic rules, and I am beyond grateful,” Matevosyan said.

A UCLA-trained filmmaker, Matevosyan has participated in Berlinale Talents, Sarajevo Talents, IFFR Sessions, the BFC Workshop under Werner Herzog, and the Locarno Spring Academy.

His works have screened at major festivals including Locarno, Slamdance DIG, LA Film Festival, Atlanta Film Festival, AGBU Film at Lincoln Center, and the Werner Herzog Foundation. He also directed the music video “Lives” for Daron Malakian of System of a Down.

Lullaby for the Mountains is produced by Luiza Yeranosyan and Matevosyan via Dolly Bell Films. The cast includes Ashot Matevosyan, Bella Ghochikyan, Sargis Mosinyan, Luiza Yeranosyan, and Hayk Mosinyan, with Matevosyan serving as writer, director, cinematographer, and editor on the Armenia-U.S. co-production.