Don Askarian (Armenian: Դոն Ասկարյան; born Makedon Hovsepi Askarian (Armenian: Մակեդոն Հովսեփի Ասկարյան) on 10 July 1949 in Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, USSR – died 6 October 2018 in Berlin, Germany)[1] was an international film director, producer, photographer and screenwriter of Armenian origin.[2]
Biography
Don Askarian was born in Stepanakert in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (current-day de facto Republic of Artsakh, de jure Azerbaijan). In 1967 he moved to Moscow and studied history and art, and worked as an assistant director and film critic for a year after his graduation.[3] Askarian was imprisoned during 1975–1977, and in 1978 he emigrated from the Soviet Union to West Berlin.[4] He lived and worked in Germany, The Netherlands and in Armenia, where he founded his own film companies. He was awarded numerous prizes at several international film festivals.[1]
His films were co-produced and broadcast by ARD, WDR, ZDF, Channel 4, Arte, as well as Belgian, Greek, Swiss, Slovakian, Armenian TV Channels.
In 1996, Askarian published a book called The Dangerous Light. In 2002 he was honored with a Harvard Film Archive retrospective and two years later, in 2004, received the Golden Camera Award for Life Achievement at Int. ART Film Festival, Slovakia.[5] Askarian's brother is sculptor and painter Robert Askarian.[1]
