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WHAT IS A KAVOR?
For millennia, Armenian villages have historically had a Kavor, which is more than just the ancient Armenian equivalent to a Best Man or Godfather--it’s an honorary role in Armenian society that comes with the great honor of being a marriage counselor.
In ancient Armenia, newly engaged couples would approach an upstanding member of their community with a thriving marriage and ask them for guidance, because living with someone for the rest of your life is very hard. And so, the noble Kavor role was born--it’s more than a Best Man, more than a Godfather, it’s the ancient Armenian equivalent to a marriage counselor who is so good at their job, that they’re practically family!
THE PREMISE
A sentimental father tries to live up to his role as KAVOR
by making a deal with a loan shark, which costs him his relationship with his daughter and turns the wedding
into a nightmare.
CLICK HERE TO MEET OUR CHARACTERS!
LEON - THE KAVOR
An Armenian father in his 50s, his nostalgia towards his childhood memories of Armenia makes him sentimental to a fault. In pursuit of being the most impressive possible Kavor, he lets puts his fate in the hands of a loan shark, straining his relationship with his wife and daughter in the process.
YEVA - THE ANCHOR
Natalie’s mother in her 40s. She’s headstrong, the family breadwinner, and usually plays a stable foil to Leon’s midlife crisis-induced antics. She sees the Kavor tradition for what it’s become in America--a tacky formality, instead of the honorable role it used to be. She's mad at Leon for dragging her into this mess, but she's not going to let anyone's ego ruin this wedding.
NATALIE - THE NEXT GENERATION
Leon’s and Yeva’s daughter. She’s a twenty-something girl with a whole lot of doting admiration for her parents, and a whole lot of spark. She’s open-minded and pragmatic yet optimistic, always aiming for the best possible outcome, even when it’s a bit of a longshot.
VAZ - THE PLAYER
A long-time friend of Leon, this wheeling-dealing playboy who often acts thirty years younger than he is, which is, incidentally, about the age of the young women he loves to party with. Nonetheless, he is a cool, suave dude who everyone loves having around despite his subtle sliminess, and he's been successful enough in business to earn that respect... a respect he only returns to those he feels earns it.
WHY THIS FILM IS IMPORTANT
KAVOR is a film steeped in the culture of the Armenian-American diaspora. Our screenwriter, Eddie Nenedzhyan, draws on his own childhood experiences to tell an authentic and personal story, rich with many esoteric details of Armenian culture, a culture which has thus far been woefully under-represented in American filmmaking.
This is the first Armenian film ever to come out of the American Film Institute.
While the details of our story may be specific, however, the story is one which speaks to all of us. We explore the universal experience of wanting to be admired as a winner and provider, and the lengths one man will go to just to be king for a day. This desire we all recognize is explored through the uniquely Armenian lens of the kavor, a position of mentorship birthed from noble intentions, which has been watered down to a shell of it's former self as memories of the old country fade further into the past.
In this film, we are marrying together the tragedy of a fading tradition with a disgruntled man trying to grab at what's left of that tradition for his own ego; in doing so, he betrays not only his loved ones and himself, but the very role that tradition was meant to fill in the first place. It is a love letter to Armenian-Americans and their culture, while simultaneously serving as a warning to all of us, of every culture, of what can happen when we lose sight of why our most important traditions are so important in the first place.
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