CNN International Features Armenia in Documentary

CNN has taken a glimpse into the life of modern-day Armenia as part of its latest On the Road series broadcast over the weekend.

A documentary presented on CNN International on Saturday attempted to explore Armenia from different aspects, including the innovative brainpower of its young people, the nation’s love of chess, the difficult history of Armenians and their traditions.

Yerevan’s Tumo Center for Creative Technologies is featured as one of the great learning environments for young Armenians facilitating the nation’s innovation drive. The CNN crew also visited the Chess Academy in the Armenian capital where parents were witnessing their kids “matching wits” in a competition, emphasizing the fact that chess is included in school curricula in Armenia.

The authors of the documentary took trips to the monastery in Geghard and the country’s only surviving pagan temple in Garni as part of their quest for the spirit of Armenia, emphasizing that Armenia was first to adopt Christianity as its official religion back in 301 AD. They also tasted traditional Armenian khash with a young political satirist.

Emphasizing the fact that Armenia is home to only 3 out of some 10 million Armenians who live in the world today, the documentary showcases the Birthright Armenia experience of several young Diaspora Armenians visiting their historical homeland as part of the program.

When showing Tsitsernakaberd in Yerevan the authors of the documentary emphasize that it is a memorial to the Armenian Genocide in which 1.5 million Christian Armenians were massacred in Ottoman Turkey. Footage of the Tatik-Papik (“We Are Our Mountains”) statue, one of the most recognizable symbols of Nagorno-Karabakh, also appears in the film for a moment.