An Incomplete Portrait of Ilik
How does a camera affect the behavior of a character whom a director tries to depict and how does that character affect the director? Do filmmakers manipulate people or are they manipulated?
These are the questions Hovhannes Ishkhanyan is trying to explore inside Yerevan’s Ilik, a café where artists, musicians and intellectuals escape from everyday reality. It is another world full of artistic energy, arguments and entertainment.
The film’s characters reflect that atmosphere as they try to question the filmmaker’s intentions, thus questioning the essence of documentary filmmaking itself.