Abovian Armenian Cultural Association
Address: Weesperstraat 91
2574 VS The Hague, The Netherlands
Telephone: +31704490209
Website:
Email: [email protected]
Contact: M. Hakhverdian
PRESS RELEASE
The Hague, 6 October 2009
Armenian Cinema Festival at the Filmhuis Den Haag in The Hauge, The
Netherlands
Abovian Armenian Cultural Association is celebrating its 25th anniversary
with two weeks of films from Armenia and the Diaspora
The Hague, 6 October 2009 The Armenian Cinema Festival will take place at
the Filmhuis Den Haag in The Hague from Thursday 22 October until Wednesday
4 November 2009. The Abovian Armenian Cultural Association and Filmhuis Den
Haag would like to present Armenian Cinema to the public with a selection of
eighteen feature films, documentaries, shorts, classics, and experimental
films, both from Armenia as well as the Diaspora. The films will be
introduced by connoisseurs of Armenian Cinema.
Encapsulating Armenian Cinema in a few short sentences is not an easy task.
Its origins and many appearances are and have been shaped by geographical
and political coordinates near and away from the Armenian homeland, both
within the borders of the present Republic of Armenia, as well as in the
worldwide Armenian Diaspora. The variety of streams among Armenian directors
from Armenia, such as Hamo Bek-Nazarov, Sergei Parajanov and Harutyun
Khachatryan, as well as those from the diaspora, such as Rouben Mamoulian,
Atom Egoyan and Eric Nazarian, illustrates the diversity of Armenian Cinema
as a whole. Bearing in mind this wide diversity, it seems more constructive
to speak of a collection of different Armenian Cinemas.
Side Programme
All films will be introduced with a short introduction by a connoisseur.
Some films will be preceded by a separate meeting. The NRC-critic André
Waardenburg, for example, will review the famous film The colour of
Pomegranates by Paradjanov, which portrays the life of Sayat Nova, an
Armenian poet from the 18th century. Don Askarian’s film Komitas will be
preceded by a lecture given by the journalist Heiko Jessayan who will
explain the person and significance of the Armenian monk and composer
Komitas (1869-1935), who is the central character of the film. Peter van
Bueren, one of the initiators of the Golden Apricot Yerevan International
Film Festival, will review the most recent film of the festival: Harutyun
Khachatryan’s Border.
The Festival Programme (subject to change)
-Thursday 22 October – 7.30 pm: The Colour of Pomegranates (Sayat Nova) /
Sergei Parajanov; short pre-film: Hakob Hovnatanyan / Sergei Paradanov
(Opening)
-Friday 23 October – 7.30 pm: Border (Sahman) / Harutyun Khachatryan /
Introduction by Peter van Bueren; short pre-film: Road Movie / Nora
Martirosyan
-Saturday 24 October – 2.30 pm Extra Show: Merry Bus / Albert Mkrtchian /
Introduction by the film director Albert Mkrtchian from Armenia
-Saturday 24 October – 5pm: Rouben Mamoulian: The Golden Age of Broadway and
Hollywood / Patrick Cazals; 7.30 pm: Silk Stockings / Rouben Mamoulian
-Sunday 25 October – 7.30 uur: The Colour of Pomegranates (Sayat Nova) /
Sergei Parajanov / Introduction by Peter Waardenburg; short pre-film: Hakob
Hovnatanyan / Sergei Parajanov
-Monday 26 October – 7.30 pm: Winepress, Sour Grapes (Hndzan) / Bagrat
Oganesyan; short pre-films: Lux Aeterna / Serge Avédikian and Terra Emota /
Serge Avédikian & Levon Minasian
-Tuesday 27 October – 7.30 pm: The Blue Hour / Eric Nazarian; short
pre-film: Akner / Aram Shahbazian
-Wednesday 28 October – 7.30 pm: Calendar / Atom Egoyan /; short pre-film:
Garden Dwelling / Tina Bastajian / Introduction by film director Tina
Bastajian
-Thursday 29 October – 7.30 pm: Silk Stockings / Rouben Mamoulian
-Friday 30 October – 7 pm: Komitas / Don Askarian / Introduction by Heiko
Jessayan, journalist; short pre-film: Chizhik / Vardan Hakobyan
-Saturday 31 October – 7.30 pm: Autumn (Sonbahar) / Ozcan Alper; short
pre-film: Don’t Leave Without News / Christine Khalafian
-Sunday 1 November – 7.30 pm: The Blue Hour / Eric Nazarian; short pre-film:
Akner / Aram Shahbazian
-Monday 2 November – 7.30 pm: Honour (Namus) / Hamo Bek-Nazarov / with live
piano accompaniment by Wim van Tuyl
-Tuesday 3 November – 7.30 pm: Calendar / Atom Egoyan / Introduction by Dr.
Marie-Aude Baronian, Assistant Professor of Film and Philosophy; short
pre-film: Garden Dwelling / Tina Bastajian
-Wednesday 4 November – 7.30 pm: Border (Sahman) / Harutyun Khachatryan;
short pre-film: Road Movie / Nora Martirosyan
The Armenian Cinema Festival is organised on the occasion of 25th
anniversary of the Abovian Armenian Cultural Association in The Hague, The
Netherlands. Over the past 25 years the Association has highlighted
different aspects of the Armenian Culture with presentations and thematic
days revolving around music, dance, literature, painting and much more. The
Abovian Association has chosen the Armenian Cinema to celebrate its 25th
anniversary not only to give the Dutch public an opportunity to discover the
largely unknown output of Armenian Cinema, but also to present many aspects
of life in Armenia and the Diaspora during different eras through this
medium.
The Armenian Cinema Festival is being supported by Fonds 1818, Prins
Bernhard Cultuurfonds, VSB-fonds, Prins Clausfonds and by the Kinokentron in
Armenia and by the Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival.
ARMENIAN FILM FESTIVAL
Filmhuis Den Haag
Thursday 22 October until Wednesday 4 November 2009
Normal entrance fees and discounts will be applied.
Reservations can be made from the Tuesday before the screening week
(Thursday until Wednesday), via / /
Tel: +3170 365 60 30
For more information and film summaries click on: ,
and
From: Baghdasarian