// Presented as part of February's Post Soviet Cinema II Series //

Aik Karapetian / 2017, Fantastic Fest, Bengaluru, Camerimage, Cottbus, Dehli, Glasgow International Film Festival, L'Etrange Film Festival, Mauvais Genre, Moscow, São Paulo International Film Festival, Sitges, Tallinn Black Nights, Transilvania, Turin, Wisconsin Film Festival / 90'

Francis is a middle-aged architect, married to the lovely Katrina. Their relationship is fraught due to their inability to have children, despite having spent years trying. One night, when returning home from a dinner party, the couple is accosted by a thug on a motorcycle. Francis attempts to fend him off, but his feeble response proves a further catalyst for the deterioration of his marriage. Desperate to save face, Francis tracks down the attacker and confronts him, an encounter that results in the young man slipping and falling to his death. Soon after Katrina discovers she is pregnant. A mysterious blackmailer, however, threatens to unravel their fragile peace.

Steeped in the unrelenting atmosphere of dread, Firstborn encounters the terror and fragility of contemporary masculinity as mediated through horror cinema. Aik Karapetian's third feature premiered at Fantastic Fest, Tallinn Black Nights, Sitges, and the São Paulo International Film Festival.