Festival celebrates Armenian filmmakers
Rick Bentley

The Fresno Bee – California – KRTBN
Mar 02, 2007

The Eighth Annual Armenian Film Festival will be held 7-10 p.m. today
in the Leon S. and Pete P. Peters Educational Center on the Fresno
State campus. The event is co-sponsored by The Armenian Students
Organization and Armenian Studies Program of California State
University, Fresno.

Filmgoers will be able to discuss films after the screenings.

Barlow Der Mugrdechian of the Armenian Studies Program says that there
has been significant growth in the number of Armenian filmmakers in
both the United States and Armenia.

"It is making it a little easier to find films. We have 8-10 films we
could show if time allowed," Der Mugrdechian says.

Featured films in the festival include:

"The Story of My Name: An Armenian Tale": The movie was directed by
Dorothee Forma. It is the story of a man who discovers that his
biological father is Armenian. At the age of 44, he decides to take on
his father’s name, Alex Peltekian, and to find out the story behind
the name.

"The Long Journey from the NFL to Armenia": Tennessee Titans football
player Rien Vartan Long takes a 12-day trip with his mother and
grandmother to Armenia.

Der Mugrdechian says that the films in the festival reflect views of
Armenian culture not often depicted in films.

"There are not that many Armenian football players in the NFL," Der
Mugrdechian says.

The film program is supported, in part, by funds of the Fresno State
University Student Union Diversity Awareness Program.

The festival is open to the public, and admission is free. Parking
restrictions in Lot V will be relaxed after 6:30 p.m.

For more information, call the Armenian Studies Program office at
(559) 278-2669.

The reporter can be reached at _rbentley@fresnobee.com_
(mailto:rbentley@fresnobee.com) or at (559) 441-6355.