Documentary about Dersim Armenians to premiere in Istanbul on February 9

Armenian Genocide documentary “The Children of Vank” will premiere at Istanbul’s Beyoglu Cinema on February 9, Ermenihaber.am reports.

The documentary is a story about Armenian family that survived the Dersim Massacre in 1938. All members of the family were driven away and lived in different cultures and beliefs.

Zeynep is a schoolteacher who lives in Izmir. In 2000s, she accidentally learns that her mother is an Armenian woman born in Dersim (Tunceli). Following the 1938 Massacre, she was given out for adoption and her name was changed to Fatma Kiremitci from AslihanKiremitciyan, her ethnic identity and belief changed to Turkish and Sunni.

She organizes a reunion with some of her mother’s relatives in the village that her mother lived. She traces the stories of her mother and tries to feel and appreciate what she lived in her childhood. Zeynep learns more about the village named Vank and its monastery.

The documentary was screened in Yerevan as part of the Golden Apricot Film Festival in 2016.