In the Manner of Smoke — Armand Yervant Tufenkian [Cinéma du Réel '25 Review]

In the Manner of Smoke — Armand Yervant Tufenkian [Cinéma du Réel '25 Review]

When Armand Yervant Tufenkian worked as a fire lookout in the forests of Central California, his protracted, expectant gazing into the distance made him wonder if the landscape itself wasn’t provisional — a mere starting point subject to change. Like smoke itself, the potential of which was enough to make him question his own sanity, Tufkenian’s first feature, In the Manner of Smoke, resists singular form. He documents the rituals and formal pro…