Feature Story
Archive
The article you are reading is part of the Chai Khana archive. From 2015 to 2025, Chai Khana covered the South Caucasus, sharing stories from Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.
Remote-controlled addiction
by Mano Svanidze
by Mano Svanidze
by Tamta Jijavaze, Vano Andiashili, Lilit Mkhitaryan, Elnur Mukhtar, Ahmad Mukhtar
by Mariam Avanesyan
by Avetis Avetisyan
This project is about TV shows - their addictive, drug-like nature and how I dealt with it. Here reality merges with the TV world and, as a result, we get something ugly, scary and mystical. Like seeing 22 episodes in a day.
Sixteen-year-old Alex struggles to find his place in conservative Armenian society. Many people do not accept him, or his style of dressing: his dyed hair, face tattoos and clothing are seen as an affront to traditional values.
For three months, Chai-Khana has brought you the stories of people across the region who are overcoming fear. Over the course of 32 feature stories, and dozens of short creative documentaries and photo projects, our contributors have captured the determination, drive and strength of people in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia as they survive conflict, fight displacement and search for better lives for themselves and their children.
Portrait is a short video story about a 46-year-old man, who shares a long, communal room in Bediani Psychiatric Hospital with 40 other patients. For some reason this man with his distinct fear to paint a self-portrait stuck in my memory for a long time.
My grandparent’s house, where I used to spend my summer holidays, always seemed scary to me. When I recall my childhood, I remember feeling fear and loneliness, mixed with a sense of mysticism. There was a time when I perceived objects as living things. I also imagined that my childhood home was very far from the rest of the world, standing alone in the backwoods.