HAROUTIUN KHACHATRIAN: "ARMENIANS CANNOT RIGHTLY USE CULTURAL WEAPON"

Noyan Tapan
Aug 27, 2009

YEREVAN, AUGUST 27, NOYAN TAPAN. The Golden Apricot on Wheels of
the Golden Apricot International Film Festival travelled to Artsakh
on August 19-23, already for the third time. The previous two years
the films of the festival were shown only in Shushi at the Narekatsi
Art Union, and this year the organizers held the festival also in
Stepanakert. According to the film program organizers, Yerevan’s Golden
Apricot on Wheels Festival that opened at the hall of the Culture
House on August 20 with Sergei Paradjanov’s "Color of Pomegranate"
united film lovers.

Minister of Culture of Artsakh Narine Aghbalian who was present at
the opening ceremony of the festival said that the Golden Apricot
gives an opportunity to the audience of Artsakh to see and know
the best Armenian and foreign films. The Minister is sure that such
projects are of great importance for the prosperity of the population
of Artsakh. She hoped that the Golden Apricot Festival will become
continual and will go round all distant settlements of NKR.

Deputy Director of the festival Ara Khanjian told the film
audience that the 40th anniversary of Sergei Paradjanov’s "Color of
Pomegranate" and the 85th birth anniversary of its author are marked
this year and that is why it was chosen as the opening film of the
festival. A. Khanjian also noted that H. Khachatrian’s "Border",
Spartak Gharabaghtsian’s "The Vandals of the 20th Century" and "By
the Tracks of Toros Roslin", Karen Hovhannisian’s "Ghost," Hamshen
Armenian film director Ozchen Alper’s "Autumn" and other films were
selected for Artsakh festival.

The Director General of the Golden Apricot International Film Festival
is pleased with the program of the film on the wheel as two festivals
held in Shushi gave their positive results: "This year there was no
free room at the Narekatsi Art Union, that is why people already
look forward to the festival each year. It is a great victory for
me." And as to the festival held in Stepanakert, H. Khachatrian is
sure that it will attract more people in a year or two, though he
is also pleased with the audience of this year: "there were 250-300
people at the hall but they knew the real value of a film," he said.

H. Khachatrian thinks that film is the strongest weapon of the arts
and the thing which the political figures and politicians fail to do
for years the film can do very quickly. The director of the festival,
however, is sure that Armenians cannot rightly use that cultural
weapon.