AIF Fresno: 6 Short Films by Armenian Filmmakers

Minna Abalian is a mixed media designer and filmmaker based in Boston. Through an intuitively led creative process, her work focuses on color and texture to highlight beauty in the mundane.

Nune Apresyan (born in 2002) is a filmmaker from Armenia, a graduate of the Yerevan State Institute of Theatre and Cinema. Her debut short feature film, Wooden Doll, marked the beginning of her exploration into human emotion and identity. She continued this journey with the short documentary The Hiker, and later with her diploma film With Heaven and Earth, a poetic reflection on the bond between the spiritual and earthly. Nune is currently engaged in several short film productions as an assistant director and production coordinator. Deeply inspired by nature, she finds creative energy in hiking and photography, which often shape the visual and emotional texture of her work.

Lilit Babayan is an Armenian filmmaker and screenwriter. She studied at the Yerevan State Institute of Theatre and Cinematography. Her latest short film, “Time Out,” has been selected for international screenings. In 2025, she participated in a European film workshop to further develop her upcoming project.

Ruby Mardirossian is a bold and determined film director eager to share her vision through cinema.

Born in Amman, Jordan, she moved to her motherland, Armenia at the age of 18. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Film Directing in 2023 and completed her Master’s degree in Film Studies in 2025.

Her Graduation film Reminisce (Ետ նայիր), was awarded Best Feature Film Director at the International Festival of Student Films of the CIS countries held at the All-Russian University of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow. Her Second film The Land of Sun continues to showcase her evolving artistic voice.

In addition to directing, Ruby has experience in editing, sound design, casting supervision and acting. Always ready to embrace new challenges, she continues to explore diverse forms of storytelling and cinematic expression.

Alec Nikoghossian is a Lebanese-Armenian filmmaker (director & editor) born in Beirut, Lebanon, and raised in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Now based in Montreal, Canada, he graduated with a BFA in Film Production from Concordia University’s Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema.

Inspired by life across two ends of the world, he pulls from personal history to revisit the city of Beirut through film; guided by nostalgia and fragmented memories from Armenian family stories.

His first publicly recognized short film Closer in Strife (2025) has begun to premiere internationally, with its world premiere at Armenian Film Society’s annual Armenian Film Festival in Los Angeles (September 2025).

After moving from Armenia to the U.S. and later settling in France in 2014 with her family, Arpiné turned to the arts for stability, exploring music, drawing, writing, and filmmaking. Her passion led her to earn a Bachelor’s in Performing Arts from the University of Lille and a Master’s in Filmmaking from Paris 8 University (2022–2024). During her studies, she directed her first professional short film, Evie, which explores themes of identity, displacement, and belonging—reflecting her own life journey.