Arsha Amartsumovna Ovanesova (Armenian: Արշա Օվանեսովա, Russian: Арша Амбарцумовна Ованесова; 23 December 1906 – 6 May 1990) was a Soviet Armenian documentary film director, screenplay writer, actress, and educator.

[1] Arsha Ovanesova was born in either Shusha or Baku in the Russian Empire.

From 1918 to 1919, she lived in Persia to escape the Russian Revolution and the Islamic Army of the Caucasus; followed by a moved in 1920 to Baku.

[3] From 1931 to 1961, Ovanesova was a director at the Soyuzkinohronika (now Russian Central Studio of Documentary Films).

[3][4][5] Her film Unusual Encounters (1958) traces the lives of the people in the early publication of Pioneer, spanning 20 years.