Don Askarian was born in Stepanakert in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, Soviet Union (today 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.[1] Askarian was imprisoned during 1975–1977, and in 1978 he emigrated from the Soviet Union to West Berlin.[2] 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.[3]
His films were co-produced and broadcast by ARD, WDR, ZDF, Channel 4, Arte, as well as Belgian, Greek, Swiss, Slovak, 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.[4] Askarian's brother is sculptor and painter Robert Askarian.[3]
Askarian died on 6 October 2018 in Berlin.[3]
