In this conversation, Armenian filmmaker and multimedia artist Emily Mkrtichian joins Alma to reflect on There Was, There Was Not—a filmic meditation on memory, belonging, and the endurance of love. The film traces the lives of four women from Artsakh, a historically Armenian land that has since been blockaded, invaded, and ethnically cleansed. What began as a quiet portrait of daily life evolved into an unflinching act of resistance and remembrance. Their dialogue explores what it means to witness rather than control and the artist’s role when reality ruptures. The conversation moves through themes of diaspora and transmission, the body as archive, and the ways that story itself can keep a place alive when homeland is lost. This episode is as much about the making of a film as it is about the making of meaning: how attention becomes devotion, how pain opens into wisdom, and how art continues to transmit what history erases. There Was, There Was Not is opening in theaters in New York and Los Angeles this month, with additional cities soon to follow. ----more---- Learn more about Emily and find the full show notes here. Watch the film trailer and find screenings on the film website. Find details for the upcoming creative cohort beginning October 18 here. You can learn more and apply for Flowering of the Self, our immersion course beginning October 31 here. Subtle Practice is a community platform for creative self-inquiry. Explore all our offerings on our website at subtlepractice.com.