That’s why Armenian films are often excluded from festivals.
From January 27 to March 17, the 23rd Sudestival Film Festival will be held in the southern Italian cities of Bari, Monopolii, and Polignano Al Mare, within the framework of which the series of international programs of the “Golden Apricot” Yerevan International Film Festival, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Armenian cinema and “on the 20th anniversary of “Golden Apricot.” In a conversation with “Aravot,” the founding Chairman of the “Golden Apricot” film festival, the President of the Union of Filmmakers of Armenia, Harutyun Khachatryan, said that they are seriously preparing to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the “Golden Apricot” film festival, and the 100th anniversary of Armenian cinema.
We showed the program proposed by “Golden Apricot” and the Cinema Union in three Italian cities: Monopoli, Polignano Al Mare, and Bari. We took a very multi-genre program to Italy, seven films: “The American” by Michael Gyurjyan, “Dawn of Aurora” by Inna Sahakyan, “When I’m Sad” by Lilit Altunyan, “5 Dreamers and a Horse” by Vahagn Khachatryan and Aren Malkayan, “Great Expectations” by Sona Simonyan, “Dream of Kafka” by David Babayan and my “Three Graves օf the Artist.”
The interest was great. The students watched the films and the audience. Everyone was impressed, and we received good feedback,” said Harutyun Khachatryan. He addressed a worrying issue. “We encountered a strange thing, the Director, of the Sudestival festival, Michele Suma, who is a wonderful person, and Sudestival and “Golden Apricot” are sister festivals, told that the embassies of Azerbaijan go through all the festivals and offer to sponsor, especially when they find out, in which festivals Armenian films will be shown.
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Unfortunately, we are inattentive in this regard, and until now, there have been many cases when Armenian films were removed from the programs of festivals and were not shown. They also pulled a movie from the Moscow Film Festival and other festivals. I would like to meet with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and raise this issue so that our embassies also start dealing with cultural policy. Cinema and storytelling are among the best tools for discussing the Armenian nation’s present and past.
By the way, we met with the mayors of two cities, Monopoli and Polignano Al Mare, gave speeches, and presented everything; it’s delicious that people were interested in Armenia. There is a severe Armenian presence in the city of Bari; Bari is known for the cooperation of many programs with Armenia, as well as for the activities of Hrant Nazaryants, a futurist poet once nominated by Italy for the Nobel Prize, who spent part of his life in Bari, and the foundation named after him and the head of that foundation, Carlo Coppola. I regret that we did not meet with the Mayor of Bari because our ”enmity friends” had already passed through that city”.
In the conversation with Harutyun Khachatryan, we also touched upon the foreign premieres of his film “Three Graves of the Artist.” We were informed that the film would be screened in Sofia in March, within the framework of the centenary of Armenian cinema. “In September, we are invited to Tallinn; the premiere of my film should take place there. Also, my friends who worked with me on the film want this film to premiere in Odessa because the film’s hero, Vahan Ananyan, has made a great contribution to Odessa; well He left students and good paintings. So, our travels around different countries begin; everywhere we will show Armenian films, we will talk about our past, present and future dreams.
We should do everything we can to help Armenian films go out into the world. Many great nations do not have cinematography like the Armenian one, we are used to constantly cursing and underestimating ourselves, but in reality, Armenian cinema is no different from the best films in the world. Our silent cinema can be shown next to the best films in the world. We have two giants: Parajanov and Peleshyan; we have such great masters as Frunze Dovlatyan, Henrik Malyan, Bagrat Hovhannisyan, Nerses Hovhannisyan, and others. Their films should be distributed worldwide,” said Harutyun Khachatryan.
Gohar Hakobyan
“Aravot” daily newspaper, 17.02.2023
