In 2015, a Turkish woman detects that her great-grandmother is one of the Genocide survivors and decides to travel to Armenia to participate in the centennial of the Armenian Genocide. Maya is the embodiment of this issue as she is both an Armenian and a Turk. Two people live inside her: the one suffers because of the Genocide and the other – denies this fact. Armenian filmmaker living in Los Angeles Naré Mkrtchyan’s “The Other Side of Home” documentary is included in the “Armenian Panorama” program of the “Golden Apricot” International Film Festival-13. “My grandfather and grandmother were survivors of the Armenian Genocide.
I had a great desire to address this issue in one of my films. But it should not be specifically about the Armenian genocide but the human torture. Therefore, I tried to find a Turk who identifies that there is an Armenian blood in him. I was interested in this internal conflict,” – said Naré Mkrtchyan during the meeting with the journalists. For her, it was difficult to find a Turk who will speak about genocide and his identity facing the camera. “Eventually, I found Maya. I did not know that she does not recognize the Armenian Genocide because as this word was used in our correspondence. It was a real shock for me that she did not mention the word genocide in front of the camera. A year later after the screening of the film, she confessed that she feels very bad for being unable to say this word because of fear,” – told the American film director.
Siranush HAYRAPETYAN
