ԵՌԱԳՈՅՆ. Filmmaker Ani Hovannisian’s documentary The Hidden Map will be featured at the first-ever POMontreal Film Festival taking place from February 28-March 1, 2020. Organized by Hamazkayin Quebec and the popular Pomegranate Toronto Film Festival, POMontreal has handpicked 13 acclaimed films to kick off its inaugural festival. The vibrant Armenian community of Montreal has been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to gather under one roof to experience the cultural wealth offered by Armenian filmmakers from around the world. With the leadership of Hamazkayin Quebec’s president Tamar Chahinian and Pomegranate’s Sevag Yeghoyan and their dedicated teams, an eventful weekend of films, camaraderie and a red-carpet gala have been planned for the entire community. In addition to Hovannisian’s The Hidden Map, this year’s selections include films by celebrated directors including Robert Guediguian (La Villa), Gor KIrakosian (Honest Thieves), Anahit Dasseux Ter Mesropian & David Vital-Durand (Les Temps des Artistes), Ruben Giney (Andin) and Nataliya Belyauskene and Michael Poghosian (If Only Everyone) to name a few. Directors and actors in attendance, including Hovannisian, will participate in question and answer sessions with audiences after their screenings.
After four journeys deep into Historic Western Armenia, two with her father, Professor Richard Hovannisian, Ani has just completed the gripping documentary which depicts the raw discoveries and revealing encounters of an American-Armenian traveling through Turkey in search of her forbidden ancestral home and a solitary Scottish explorer she meets along the way. He, it turns out, has been documenting the relics of the lost Armenian past for 30 years. The unlikely duo sets out together and digs beneath the surface of modern-day Turkey, discovering lonely ruins and silenced stories of an ominous past… unearthing buried secrets and the hidden map. Now beginning to debut in festivals, the film has already been recognized with an ImpactDocs Award, Independent Shorts Silver Award, Toronto Pomegranate Film Festival Best Documentary and Audience Choice Honorable Mention Awards, and Official Selection for Best Documentary at the ARPA International Film Festival.
Over the span of her professional career as a broadcast journalist, Ani Hovannisian has produced and directed hundreds of inspiring true stories for television and other international audiences Active in the Armenian-American community since her youth, she was an anchor and reporter at TeleNayiri and Horizon Armenian Television in Los Angeles for more than a decade. Ani has traveled to present-day Armenia since childhood, and seven years ago, rooted in the stories of her genocide-survivor grandparents and their entire generation, and shaped by the lifelong dedication of her own parents, Ani embarked on the first of several journeys into the historic Armenian homeland, where she continues to document living history through the stories of the land and people.
The Hidden Map will be featured at the POMontreal Film Festival at Pastermadjian Hall, L’Ecole Armenienne Sourp Hagop in Montreal on Sunday, March 1 at 2 p.m., followed by a discussion with the filmmaker. Festival information and tickets are available at www.hamazkayintickets.ca.
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