Tjvjik

Tjvjik
Directed by	Arman Manaryan
Written by	Yervand Manaryan
Based on	Tjvjik by Atrpet
Music by	Eduard Baghdasaryan
Production company	Armenfilm
Release date	August 21, 1962 (1962-08-21) (Yerevan)
Running time	22 minutes
Country	Soviet Union
Language	Armenian

Tjvjik or Tzhvzhik (Armenian: Տժվժիկ [tʒvʒik], "Fried Liver") is a 1961 Soviet Armenian short film by Arman Manaryan. Despite being Manaryan's (who was a student at the time) first film and just 20 minutes-long, Tjvjik is considered to be one of the classics of the Armenian film history.

Arman Manaryan, the film's director was born in Iran in 1929. He migrated to Soviet Armenia in 1946. In 1952 he graduated from the Yerevan State Conservatory and in 1962 he graduated from the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography, the main cinematography school in the Soviet Union. Grigori Roshal was his main teacher. At the time of his education in Moscow he shot Tjvjik as his diploma work. Manaryan started to work at Armenfilm in 1962.

The story is set in the city of Erzurum in Western Armenia, the Armenian-populated area of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the 19th century. Nerses akhpar, a poor old man, goes to the local shop to buy food for his family. "In a close-knit community, food was one of the main topics of discussion. Everybody knew through the grapevine what was on each other's table for dinner. The status of town inhabitants was measured by the number of visits to the butcher shop, which was pretty much the center of the Armenian universe." Nikoghos agha, who is the owner of the shop, gives him liver for free. Every time they meet, Nikoghos agha reminds Nerses akhpar about the liver he gave away. At the end of the story, Nerses buys the liver he owned and after finding Nikoghos agha throws it into his face in the presence of several others screaming "Here is your tjvjik." The 2006 book Armenian Food: Facts, Fiction & Folklore jokingly concludes ""Charity exacerbated the resentment felt by the recipient", modern psychoanalysts would say."