The organizer of a screening in Yerevan of a film banned in Russia and Belarus says a power outage that delayed the screening by nearly two hours is a troubling sign that a common practice of Russian censors is now being used in Armenia.
Sergei Tselikov, who organized the event, hinted that the power cut before the screening of the movie Minsk, set around the 2020 protests in Belarus, was suspicious.
"I come from Russia, and this is a very common practice there. If there is an unwanted stand-up performance or concert, they just turn off the lights. I see the same pattern here," Tselikov said.
He pledged on social media the day of the incident that the film would be shown one way or another. The lights went back on when organizers found a power generator, he said.
But the audience had to wait in the dark on December 9 for the screening of Minsk, a drama about a young couple in the Belarusian capital amid the 2020 protests that began after the reelection of longtime authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
People had come from as far away as Moscow to see the film because it is banned in Russia, Tselikov said.
A Cinema House representative told RFE/RL's Armenian Service the Electric Networks of Armenia, the company operating the country's power grid, said that there was a serious emergency situation somewhere in the area that led to the temporary power cut.
Arayik Manukian, an adviser to the president of the Union of Film Professionals of Armenia, said that power cuts in the area do not happen often and that the power cut on December 9 lasted longer than usual.
The power outage also caused a delay in the screening of another film in an adjacent hall of the cinema at the same time, Manukian said.
In the movie Minsk, an ordinary night stroll in the streets of the Belarusian capital turns into hell for the couple as the regime deals brutally with peaceful protesters.
Boris Guts, the director of the Russian-Estonian film, said the incident in the cinema validated his work.
"I am surprised that some strange people at the top in Armenia are worried. The film is about freedom and love," Guts said. "Perhaps some people have long arms if they try to prevent the screening of a film even in Yerevan."
Producer Anastasia Gusetsova said that the film will be shown in Tbilisi soon. She joked that a power generator is already in place.
"This has created more hype, generating more interest in the film. The topic was discussed on social media, and people in Tbilisi are already waiting for the film," Gusetsova said.
Tselikov told RFE/RL that an encounter with the National Security Service (HAAT) preceded the problem that occurred before the screening in Yerevan.
He said a visit he made to the HAAT on December 10 was connected with another premiere planned in Armenia next week. The matter concerned a play called Lie Down, Mr. President, and he assumed the HAAT did not like the title. The film itself does not mention any presidents by name.
"It is about a high-ranking official being brought back from the hospital. No name of the president of Russia, Belarus, let alone of Armenia, is mentioned in it," Tselikov said.
The Internet domain intended for ticket sales was subsequently blocked, he said, adding that the web developers that made the site said that it was blocked by the HAAT.
Tselikov said he visited the HAAT to try to clear up the matter, telling them it was just a performance not a "coup."
He said he was visited the next day by "two polite men" who questioned him for half an hour.
"Later that evening during the screening of the Minsk movie what happened happened. I don't know whether this is a chain of events or just different episodes," Tselikov said.
He joked that he hopes there won't be a flood or collapse of the ceiling during the screening of Lie Down, Mr. President next week that would turn the satire it into "a tragicomedy."