Burbank Leader, CA
April 7 2007

Bringing legends to life

Fourteen artists join in exhibition fundraiser to help two animators
create a trailer for film idea.

By Joyce Rudolph

Two local filmmakers have a vision for an animated film loosely based
on Armenian legends, but just making a trailer to sell it to
prospective investors will be a financial stretch for them.

So two local artists are helping them raise money.

Hayasa Pictures’ director Hayk Manukyan, of Burbank, and Glendale
producer Henri Hovhanessyan want to produce "David of Sassoon." The
filmmakers have received donations of about $10,000 to begin
production on the trailer, but need $40,000 more to complete it, they
said.

Glendale artists Arpine Shakhbandaryan and Addis Zaryan, who are fans
of Manukyan’s, are organizing the art exhibition on Thursday at the
Kalaydjian Hall at the Western Diocese in Burbank.

"We have collected 14 artists," she said. "Each will have one to
three works in the show on sale. They will donate a portion of
proceeds to Hayasa Pictures to help the company create a trailer for
the ‘David of Sassoon’ production."

The story is about a child of royalty who becomes separated from his
family and tries to find his way back, Hovhanessyan said.

There is no political message, Manukyan added.

"It’s a story about a man who had to figure out who he was and how he
could save his country from extinction," Manukyan said.

"The sub-story is about introducing the Armenian culture and history
into film. That has never been done before through the eyes of a
legend," Hovhanessyan said. "It’s not based on a specific time or
specific person. He’s a mythical character.

"And throughout the movie, the style is not going to be
straight-forward characters. We are going to push the envelope. We’ll
have ogres and not-so-real characters, so it doesn’t portray someone
specifically."

The filmmakers are thrilled that the artists are helping them realize
their dream.

"I’m grateful to them," Hovhanessyan said. "They have done extremely
great work getting these artists together in such a short time. They
have stepped up and put us on the map in the Armenian community in
Glendale and Burbank."

Shakhbandaryan first saw samples of Manukyan’s work on his website,
she said.

"I thought it was ingenious," she said. "It is something never done
before in our culture. It is extremely professional and
high-caliber."

Zaryan, who is helping put on the show, is equally impressed with
Manukyan’s work.

"What Hayk is doing is very professional and high-caliber," he said.

"I’ve never seen such a good quality when it comes down to Armenian
animated story telling. By supporting him, I encourage everyone to
get involved and support his epic project."

Zaryan has himself worked in animation.

"I mainly did background, location or backdrops for the characters,"
he said.

His animation work will be on display Thursday at the show, as will
Shakhbandaryan’s, whose specialty is painting watercolors embellished
with 24-karat gold leaf.

"It’s very labor intensive," she said.

"It’s very thin material. You can’t touch it because the oils in your
hand ruin it."

Shakhbandaryan is happily surprised with the support she has received
for the exhibition, she said.

"At the beginning, it was just Addis and me," she said.

"And there was this incredible snowball effect. We started to tell
people about it and many people wanted to help."

Photo: Arpine Shakhbandaryan has been painting illuminated
manuscripts at the family dining table for the last eight years. Her
work will be auctioned with 13 other Armenian artists this week at
the Western Diocese.

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