2008 PROGRAM coming soon!
2006 PROGRAM
Program schedule subject to change.
Click director's name for biography.
Friday, February 17th
7:00pm
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Garden Dwelling: Tina Bastajian, USA, 30 min.
This oblique travel diary, recounting four Armenians' visit to Eastern
Turkey in 2003, covers not their daily itinerary and the big sights, but the spaces in between: the awkward translations, the mystifying exchanges, the unspoken tensions that still linger across a closed border. "A graceful, nuanced treatment of the filmmakers' ambivalent relationship to her historic homeland." (CinemaEast Series-New York, 2005).
Dad's Dishes: Karnig Gregorian, Germany, 45 min.
This documentary shows the life of Kevork Gregorian, a Genocide survivor from Turkey, who was displaced from his home as a result of the Genocide of the early twentieth century. Kevork fled to Germany where he found his home and freedom. The filmmaker takes a journey through his father's life which was coined by death and loss as well as the absolute will to live on
Q & A with Gregorian: 30 min.
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9:00pm
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Arahet: Ruben Kochar, Armenia, 118 min.
An Armenian man living in the United States finds a small path near a huge freeway - a path which takes him straight to his motherland. This is the dream of an emigrant ... The further development of this surreal drama is a conflict between the present and the past, real friendship and relationships, love and disappointment. The realities of modern American life are relieved in teh movie through the conversations of Los Angeles taxi-cab passengers of different backgrounds.
Q & A with Producer: 30 min.
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Saturday, February 18th
1:00pm
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The Piano: Nika Shek, Armenia, 20 min.
This delightful story traces a man in a village who finds the love of music through an unusual path of play.
Planet Zorthian: Arno Yeretzian, Sevag Vrej, Lisa Tchakmakian, and Harout Arakelian, USA, 67 min.
An experimental cubist documentary about Zorthian ranch, an ongoing work of art created by Col. Jirayr Zorthian. Shot by four filmmakers, the work brings the subjectivity of all five filmmakers to Zorthian's artwork,
architecture, livestock, found objects, and the lives of the residents, Jirayr and his wife Dabney.
Q & A TBA: 30 min.
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3:30pm
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Raisin Debt: Stephanie Garoian, USA, 24 min.
"Rescuing" a raisin crop serves as a metaphor for the struggles of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. In this documentation a performance piece by her parents, the filmmaker attempts to understand and heal the wounds of her elders.
In a Nutshell: Don Bernier, USA, 80 min.
ThisTV style documentary portrays the life of Elizabeth Tashjian, an unusual eccentric, outsider artist and found of the Nut Museum at the age of sixty. The film chronicles her life and includes interviews with folks in from her community, Johnny Carson, the press, and an art scholar. Later in life Tashjian enters a coma, only to come out and realize her house has been put up for sale by the state. Thus, the film further comments on the difficulties of being aged in America. Since its official premiere at Slamdance '05, In a Nutshell: A Portrait of Elizabeth Tashjian has gone on to screen in competition at such festivals as the Independent Film Festival of Boston, the Maryland Film Festival and the Los Angeles Film Festival. It has won several awards for Best Documentary Feature, including a Crystal Heart Award from the Heartland Film Festival, and was recently selected by IFP as a nominee for a 2005 Gotham Award.
Q & A TBA: 30 min.
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6:00pm
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Cold Supper: Siragan Abroyan, Armenia, 7 min.
Simultaneously disturbing and poetic, Cold Supper portrays the plight for survival in Armenia during the harshness of winter.
Armenian Lullaby: Irina Patkanian, USA/Russia, 5 min.
Armenian Lullaby is a video poem based on the verse of my great-great-grandfather, Rafael Patkanian (1830-1892) about a mother who is singing a lullaby to her child, calling on different birds that are associated with various professions. The baby falls asleep only to the song of Falcon, who is singing battle songs. In other words, the baby chooses the profession of a soldier. I dedicate my interpretation to the Mothers of soldiers.
I Love the Sound of Kalachnikov, It Reminds me of Tchaikovski: Philippe Khazarian, France/UK, 75 min.
An autobiographical documentary film that goes beyond the barriers of the genre and is something between videoart, experimental film and home video footage and seeks to throw light on the consequences of the Armenian Genocide of 1915, which forced the director´s family to emigrate to France. The film is less of a recapitulation of historical fact, but rather a visual montage on the complexities of the Nagorny Karabakh war, diverse sexual orientations, and the consequences of emigration, all of which are indissolubly linked.
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8:30pm
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don't leave without news: Christine Khalafian, USA, 18 min.
Shot in modern day Armenia, don't leave without news creates a new environment based on chance encounters, an amalgam of the harshness of life in a struggling post-soviet republic and a traveler's fantasy. Disparate imagery includes Russian children doing cartwheels on a deserted road, men playing soccer in an open field nestled in the mountains, Yezdi nomads wondering the land, a tightrope walker impressing tourists, and two villagers on a pilgrimage to a buried ancient cross stone. This travelogue of sorts provides a deceptively nondescript, impenetrable landscape; in the hopes of examining how increasingly non-familiar imagery forces the viewer to re-appropriate what he or she sees.
My Son Shall Be Armenian: Hagop Goudsouzian, Canada, 80 min.
Exploring the question of Armenian identity, My Son Shall Be Armenian follows the initiatory voyage of filmmaker Hagop Goudsouzian, who, accompanied by five Montreal men and women of Armenian origin, returned to the land of his ancestors in search of survivors of the Genocide of 1915. Through the moving testimony of those centenarians and the funny and touching accounts of his fellow travelers from the New World, Hagop Goudsouzian has crafted a dignified and poignant film on the need to make peace with the past in order to turn toward the future.
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Sunday, February 19th
1:00pm
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CURATOR'S PROGRAM
ZeroPointTwo: Thea Farhadian/Heike Liss, USA, 19 min.
ZeroPointTwo , a video collaboration between Armenian-American sound artist Thea Farhadian and German visual artist Heike Liss presents a poetic and simultaneously disturbing account of a woman having her head shaved. Filmed in real time the work moves between states of the ordinary consciousness and the metaphoric, cultural, and historical understandings of the subject within the mind of the viewer.
Bruitage: Hrayr Anmahouni, Lebanon/USA, 58 min.
The film exists on the edge of movement and stillness, noise and silence, witnessing and remembering. From the parallel time in the On Deep Background films to the linear time of Bruitage , this work is part of a series exploring and exploiting the backgrounds of still photographs from Lebanon. The audio tracks, also of Lebanon, are from on-line sources or existing video tracks replayed and re-recorded with the ambient noise of the different rooms and yard of our last home in San Francisco.
Q & A with Farhadian, Liss and Anmahouni: 30 min.
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3:00pm
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Beautiful Armenians: Tamar Salibian, USA, 59 min.
In her film Beautiful Armenians , director Tamar Salibian questions
culture, family, and memory. Part travelogue and part family document with
comedic and reflective moments, the film moves chronologically, starting in
the United States and eventually moving to the Middle East where, through
interviews and travel, Salibian begins to accept her place within various
cultures.
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5:00pm
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Seeing a Sleeping Woman: David Norian, USA, 8 min.
Based on an original poem, Seeing a Sleeping Woman is a film about a chance, momentary encounter between a man and a woman he sees sleeping in a passing car. The image of this mysterious woman becomes etched in the thoughts of the man, and the film provides a window into both his imagination and the way of the mind. Where had she been that led her to this point, and where will she go? Is it possible she also saw, or felt his presence? That she too is thinking, or dreaming, of him? In this close examination of paths suddenly crossing, the alluring female character is brought to life in silent montage and slow motion, thus revealing the film's central themes: voyeurism, eros, vulnerability. Sometimes even though we may see each other, and perhaps touch in dreams, we are often separated from those we desire most. Yet we continue to long to know with whom do we share this world?
Alchemy: Anna Condo, USA, 20 min.
"Life is a game. Katja plays."
Pick Me Up: Ara Ebrahimian, USA, 12 min.
Following his release from prison, Arsen, a petty thief and drug addict, seeks solace in the company of his uncle. Yet as the evening progresses, childhood recollections surface and Arsen must grapple with the realization that rejection, rather than redemption, is at the heart of their relationship.
The Alarm: Edwin Khachikian, Iran, 9 min.
For human, the most important issue is, to be ... or not to be.
Women and Politics: Mariam Ohanian, Armenia, 20 min.
The film Armenian Women and Politics addresses the problem of women's political activity and views it against a background of the historical events of the 20th century in the first Republic of Armenia, Soviet Armenia and Independent Armenia. Three women (Perchui Partizpanian, Varvare Rotinian, Ekaterine Zalian) were elected to the Parliament of second convocation of the first Republic of Armenia. Diana Abgar, a prominent public and political figure, was appointed diplomatic consul of the Republic of Armenia in Japan. She became the first woman representing Armenia at the international level. The film analyzes the roles of women's political activity during socialism and raises the question about the decline of this role after Armenia had gained independence.
Q & A TBA: 30 min.
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8:30pm
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I Don't Feel Safe Around You: Armen Kanian, Canada, 1 min.
A chaotic view of the world from the furthest angle possible; a comment on simplistic media coverage of international politics.
Ara's Flight: Hagop Kaneboughazian, Lebanon/USA, 5 min.
Aras Flight is a short film about a young boy who dreams of flying into the heavens to reunite with his parents. All alone in a deserted orphanage, Ara builds a pair of cardboard wings and attempts to take flight! Aras Flight is dedicated to all the children of war. The film attempts to visualize the needs orphaned children have for love and guidance in a world that can sometimes make no sense.
One Fine Morning: Serge Avedikian, France, 13 min.
A student and a photographer accept without much reticence to sacrifice their pets, which no longer fit the standards set by the State. However, these new standards soon reach beyond cats and dogs.
Q & A with Armen Kanian and Hagop Kaneboughazian: 30 min.
Muron: Nigol Bezjian, Lebanon, 90 min.
Muron documents the process of creating oil which is traditionally prepared by ordained priests every seven years by mixing 40 kinds of oils, roots, herbs, and incenses, then cooking the oil for 48 hours. Muron is used to baptize, consecrate new churches, and to ordain new priests.
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