Filmmaker to debut documentary on Christian Armenia

01:00 AM EDT on Friday, April 17, 2009

By Richard C. Dujardin

Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE — Armenian filmmaker Arsen Aslanyan says Armenians have
always taken pride in their nation’s being the first in the world to be
formally declared a Christian nation, in 301 A.D.

And if asked, he says, nearly all in his homeland will tell you they are
Christian.

Yet, on a visit to Sts. Sahag and Mesrob Armenian Apostolic Church on
Tuesday to promote his documentary about Christianity in Armenia,
Aslanyan said he suspects most of his fellow countrymen have only a
limited knowledge of what the religion is about – the result, he says,
of years of Soviet rule when an atheistic government turned churches
into museums, prohibited the printing of Christian books and barred
clergy from visiting people’s homes.

"When I was growing up, I would go to church sometimes to light a
candle," he recalled. "But I didn’t understand a lot. That’s also true
of most others."

But the award-winning director says there’s a chance that his
documentary film, Christian Armenia, which will have its U.S. premiere
Sunday at the Columbus Theater, will give people a better understanding
of their history and Christian heritage.

Armenia, which regained its independence from the Soviets in September
1991, has a history that dates to centuries before the time of Christ. A

key moment came in 301 A.D. when King Tiridates was converted by the
first patriarch of the Armenian Church, Gregory the Illuminator, and
proclaimed Christianity the sole religion in Armenia.

Aslanyan, who began his career as a cameraman for Armenian television
and won various awards as a filmmaker for films about Armenian composer
Ohan Duryan and the 1980 Armenian earthquake, says his idea for the film

came in 2001 when Armenia celebrated the 1,700th anniversary of
Christianity in Armenia.

He said he assumed someone else would make a film about it, but when no
one did, "I felt I should make it."

Making a film without having to deal with Soviet censorship made his
work both easier and more difficult, he says. The Soviets would never
have allowed him to even show a cross, but at least they paid for his
work, he observed, while under the new system he can do what he wants
but is not paid.

It took him five years working off and on to complete the documentary,
which visits all of the sites significant to Armenia’s Christian
history.

With actor Vladimir Msryan playing the role of a sort of cosmic
commentator who comes in and out of scenes dressed in a long robe, the
film has so many facts squeezed in that people may find it hard to
absorb.

But Aslanyan says the film received "only positive" reviews in the
places it has been shown – the Netherlands, Switzerland, Georgia and in
Moscow and St. Petersburg in Russia where it won awards, and in Armenia.

In making the film, "I learned a lot more things I wouldn’t have known
otherwise," he says, and he thinks it will help his countrymen better
understand their faith and heritage as well.

"In Armenia right now, it is still not possible for young people to
learn their Christian history from reading books because the books
haven’t been printed yet. This film can be an introduction and help them

feel proud."

Sponsored by the cultural committee of Sts. Sahag and Mesrob Armenian
Church, Christian Armenia will be shown at the Columbus Theater twice on

Sunday – in English at 3 p.m. and in Armenian with English subtitles at
5 p.m. The donation is $10.

rdujardi@projo.com