In My Armenian Phantoms, filmmaker Tamara Stepanyan embarks on an evocative journey through the forgotten world of Armenian cinema. Sparked by a dialogue with her father, renowned Armenian actor Vigen Stepanyan, this captivating documentary brings to life the vibrant and often overlooked history interwoven with personal loss. Drawing on a rich tapestry of moments of film and her own memories, My Armenian Phantoms reveals a profound cultural and artistic legacy to new audiences. The film explores the creative spirit behind films that spoke to universal themes of identity, love, struggle, and artistic expression—a cinematic tradition that produced some of the most visually striking and thematically powerful films of its era. It captures not just Soviet Armenian cinema, but the enduring soul of Armenian storytelling—its beauty, its struggles, and its unyielding spirit.

Cast & Crew
Producers: Céline Loiseau, Alice Baldo, Tamara Stepanyan
Director: Tamara Stepanyan
Script: Tamara Stepanyan, Jean-Christophe Ferrari
Director of Photography: Claire Mathon
Music: Cynthia Zaven
Sound: Jocelyn Robert
Editing: Olivier Ferrari
Production. TS Productions, French Kiss Production, Visan

Tamara Stepanyan
A film director born in Armenia, Tamara Stepanyan, moved to Lebanon in the early 1990s and continued her studies at the National Film School of Denmark. Now she lives in France and is considered to be one of the new voices of contemporary Armenian film. Her feature film, Embers (2012), premiered at the Busan IFF. She directed Those from the Shore (2016), Best Documentary at the Boston FF and the Amiens FF. Village of Women (2019) participated in over 30 festivals and received 9 international awards. Tamara Stepanyyan is currently in post-production on her first fiction film, Save the Dead, shot in Armenia, with Camille Cottin and Zar Amir Ebrahimi.

Filmography
Little Stones (short, 2010), February 19 (short, 2011), Embers (doc., 2012), Those from the Shore (doc., 2016), Village of Women (doc., 2019), My Armenian Phantoms (doc., 2025)․