By Vahan Bournazian 

With his new documentary “Listen to Me: Untold Stories Beyond Hatred”, film director Gagik Ghazareh offers Armenian society a unique gift — a chance to start over. 

All societies are usually offered basically the same polemics:  a list of sins, a choice between liberal capitalism or conservative capitalism, or a culture war, scapegoating or armed conflict to distract us from the corruption of elites.  To his credit, Ghazareh refuses to serve-up the same old cliches that we have already heard about LGBT Armenians.  Instead, he does something revolutionary:  he asks us to listen. 

Do we ever really listen to each other?  One of the greatest fallacies is to believe that others think and conceive of the world exactly the way we do.  Another fallacy is to exclude as wrong whatever is different, including the inner nature of anyone different from you.  Individuals are different, and incorporating difference builds a stronger society — it’s called symbiosis.  LGBT Armenians exist and “Listen to Me” challenges you to hear them as individuals, to listen to their struggles and their hopes, to hear what power elites never offer you — inner truths. 

Watching, and listening, to “Listen to Me” is an opportunity to push the re-set button in our heads, if only we can hear past our own preconceptions.  Next up from Ghazareh I hope to see a documentary on what we really have to say about our own corruption, should we be brave enough to both tell it and hear it. 

Challenge yourself.  “Listen to Me” shows on Friday, December 2 at 19:00 at Article 3 Club, Tumanyan 26a, Yerevan  http://documentary.pinkarmenia.org/?lang=en