TAVIANI BROTHERS’ FILM ON ARMENIAN CAUSE IN A FEW DAYS DID WHAT POLITICIANS DO IN MANY YEARS, CINEMA CRITICS EMPHASIZE
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Feb 20 2007
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 20, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The Golden
Apricot (Voske Tsiran) fourth international film festival to be held
on July 9-14 in Yerevan will open with Italian Taviani brothers’
film "The Lark Farm," which raised a great clamour in the days of the
Berlin International Festival. Film director Haroutiun Khachatrian,
Director of Golden Apricot festival, declared this at the February
20 press conference. He had been present at the Berlin Festival. In
his words, this year, from the beginning to the end of the festival,
they were constantly speaking and discussing the Armenian Cause,
both through cinema and open discussions and dialogues.
H. Khachatrian gave assurance that this festival once more confirmed
the fact that cultural arm is all-mighty: "what politicians do in
many years was presented to the public in a few days through the art
of cinema language."
Susanna Haroutiunian, Golden Apricot film festival’s Art Director,
who had also been present at the Berlin Festival, said that the authors
of film "The Lark Farm" had especially chosen the Berlin Festival for
showing the film, as a great Turkish community lives in that city. "We
have seen Italian Fascism and we apologized instead of our brothers,"
the Taviani brothers said.
In her words, the day before the film’s premiere it had been
shown for media of many countries of the world taking part in the
festival. "It was just tremendous. Everybody got excited. A great
number of Turkish journalists were present. I left the hall after the
film’s showing. Chairman of Turkish Association of Film Critics and
Film Journalists, Atila Doray came up to me. He embraced me and said:
"I beg your pardon."
Haroutiun Khachatrian also stated that Director of Berlin Festival
Peter Koslik presenting the film said that "we, the German, were able
to condemn Fascism. The time has come for Turks also to apologize
to Armenians."
"For me, the most impressive was that my pain, the story of my heart
was spoken about in another language, Italian. Perhaps this is the
culminating point of art where global ideas abolish all borders,"
S. Haroutiunian said.