Argentina-based Armenia Jack Boghossian about his plans
Argentina-based Armenian actor, journalist and filmmaker Jack Boghossian was recently in Yerevan to attend “Golden Apricot” film festival. These days, he is back to his homeland with 14 students of the Buenos Aires St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian School. “It’s very difficult to say what we feel when we come to Armenia for the first time. It is one thing when we talk and listen about Armenia in Argentina, and another when you see Armenia, felt its spirit and listen to an Armenian word in life,” says Jack. He said that traditionally, when graduating from the Buenos Aires St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian school, the graduates are coming to Armenia. “Even some of the young men were excited in tears eventually their dream came true. We visited Garni, Geghard, Oshakan Ashtarak, Khor Virap, Noravank, Genocide Memorial, Cascade, and Matenadaran. We also are planning to visit the “Tumo”, where once I had presented showing an Uruguayan and Argentinean film,” said our interlocutor.
He also has plans for the next year, he will again present the Uruguayan film because the Armenian audience, in his impression, loved it. I am working on a project: Borges and Cortázar in the film. He says that it is difficult to make a film about Borges, Borges is deep and each word has a meaning, Borges is capricious, and it is not easy to “serve” him. Personally, he does not like the films that were created based on the works of Borges or according to his biography. On the other hand, he believes that every filmmaker would like to shoot a film about Borges, but Borges is not suitable for everyone’s palate. Jack Boghossian is planning to make a film about Borges, based on one of his works, to the point, he thinks that it should be a black-and-white and silent. In his formulation, one should try hard to present one of the most outstanding writers of the 20th century, the Argentine novelist, essayist and poet Jorge Luis Borges, in the film language. Jack Boghossian is currently writing the script, he thinks that it will be different from other films about Borges, he says that he will go far from the original. The film will be short: 13-14 minutes, a short film but with great content.
When a schoolchild, Jack was fascinated by Borges, and the teacher seeing his aspiration and his adorable fascination by the literature of Borges, introduced him to the writer. The have talked about everything, including the Armenian cuisine. Jack is saying, “In those times, I did not know the secrets of the Armenian cuisine, but I told all that my granny was cooking. In the end of meeting, Borges uttered “Our Father”, and I caught up with him in the middle. Borges smiled, and then said that from now on, we can meet every Thursday, at 14:10, for half an hour. I was in bliss. In those meetings, we were talking about literature and life. In these 30-35 minute, I seemed to be on a different planet, Borges was one of the most developed people in the 20th century, it was very interesting to be with him. He did not like giving advice, he used to say, everything is very individual, and the only thing that I can say is to read a lot. He was saying, I am first of all a reader, you should also read too much…”
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One day, Jack Boghossian bought the new book of Borges from the bookstore, he reads it to have a subject for discussion for the next meeting. During the meeting, Borges is asking to read an extract from the work, Jack is reading, a while later, the writer interrupts him saying that this idea can be worded in a different way, and says, let’s edit it. “I was astonished, together with Borges, I was to edit the creations of this great human. Years later, when the book was re-published, the line was already edited as a result of our collaborative editing. It was the most memorable moment of my life. After the death of Borges, I met with his wife, Maria Kodama. We talked for a long time. I am planning to meet her again to arrange the copyright-related matters of the film because Maria Kodama is the head of the International Fund named after Borges and holds the rights of the literary heritage left by him,” said our compatriot.
Gohar HAKOBYAN
