Don Askarian: Shoot films on themes that burn inside your souls
23.01.2010 19:24 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Master classes should be run by a master, according
to film director, producer and script writer Don Askarian.
`I am not a master myself, but I can share my experience with young
directors to help them find the right way in their work,’ he told
Saturday young directors during a master class organized in Naregatsi
Art Center, Yerevan.
A film director, according to him, should think about motion pictures
that haven’t been shot.
Not having professional education in cinematography sphere, Askarian
gained all his experience from watching films. `Even a poor-quality
film can be a good guide to a learner, teaching him what mustn’t be
shot,’ he said, adding that a diploma cannot guarantee quality.
Addressing young those present, Mr. Askarian said, `Shoot films on
themes that burn inside yourselves.’
During the master class, participants also had the chance to watch
films by young directors and hear Don Askarian’s opinion about them.
Don Askarian, director, screenwriter, artist, editor. Don Askarian was
born in Stepanakert, Nagorno Karabakh. In 1967 he went to Moscow and
studied history and art. He worked as an assistant-director and film
critic for a year after his study. In 1975-1977 Don Askarian was
imprisoned. In 1978 he emigrated from the USSR to West Berlin. For the
last 25 years he has lived and worked in Germany, The Netherlands and
in Armenia, where he founded his own film companies. He is a
prize-winner at several international film festivals. In 1996, Don
Askarian published his book "The Dangerous Light". Every year the
interest to his unique films grow up. More and more film festivals
come to honor Don Askarian with retrospectives. Serious TV-stations
like ARD, WDR, ZDF, Channel 4, Arte, but also Belgian, Greek, Swiss,
Slovakian, Armenian etc. TV Channels are constant co-producers and
buyers of all his films. The films of Don Askarian were sold and
broadcast world wide about 80 times. Don Askarian, honored with a
Harvard Film Archive retrospective, is considered the greatest
Armenian filmmaker (but he is Russian-German-Dutch too).
In 2004, he received the Golden Camera Award for Life Achievement at
Int. ART Film Festival, Slovakia. It turns out to be clearer what
Hans-Werner Dannowski, the president of Interfilm (between 1989-2004),
meant in 1992: "Time will pass until we recognize that Don Askarian is
one of the most important filmmakers of our times. His movies will
take up the time they need. Finally the films will have their success
not with lies and assimilations but with truth." The retrospectives
and special screenings around the world, on TV and important film
festivals reflect it, mirror the growing interest in Don Askarian’s
films followed by a broad fascination by the audience.