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FilmMaker Arnaud Khayadjanian at GagruleLive “A movie about Nagorno-Karabakh” March 2, 2018

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ARNAUD KHAYADJANIAN

Mark your calendar Friday March 2, 2018 Interview a filmmaker ARNAUD KHAYADJANIAN A movie about Nagorno-Karabakh 10:00 AM Pacific time

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SYNOPSIS

Through universal and unifying stories, inspired by true stories, Arnaud Khayadjanian pays homage to Nagorno-Karabakh, an emerging country. ARTSAKH, sometimes funny, sometimes dramatic, addresses a wide variety of themes such as friendship, patriotism, youth, culture, family. The Nagorno-Karabakh people present themselves to the world – through endearing characters – under a modern, courageous and dynamic face.

DIRECTOR’S MOTIVATIONS

To the world, Nagorno-Karabakh would not exist, it would be an imaginary territory, a cloudless landscape, a fiction in the minds of its inhabitants. Yet, I did meet that so-called faceless country, a thousand-faceted people, bereaved by wars and orphaned by liberty, but still standing and heroic. Two years after Les Chemins Arides (Best Documentary Award in Yerevan), I had the immense pride to realize We Are Our Mountains. I was so fascinated by my meeting with the people and landscapes from Nagorno-Karabakh, that I wrote this project. Through this film, ARTSAKH, I wish to introduce this country to an international audience.

Risks and challenges

In Nagorno-Karabakh, many benefits in terms of image are planned. The film will be broadcast in cinemas in France and Armenia, on television channels, on the Internet, by DVD, at international festivals. Social and economic benefits are also expected thanks to the active participation of Nagorno-Karabakh people (actors, extras, technicians, translators); as well as expenses incurred in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh (hotel, meals, equipment, logistics, etc.)

ARNAUD KHAYADJANIAN BIOGRAPHY
In 2014, Arnaud Khayadjanian adapted a French play by Laura Desprein into a short film entitled “BAD GIRL” which has been viewed 1.3 million times by streaming. “BAD GIRL” has been selected in 23 international festivals including Oscar Qualifying UPPSALA and it won both Vimeo Prize and Jury Prize in Sundance Channel Contest. In September 2015, Arnaud Khayadjanian has released “STONY PATHS”, a documentary inspired by the story of his Armenian great-grandparents.
The film was honored by the French critics and was selected in 24 international festivals. “STONY PATHS” received the Jury Prize from Ismailia Festival in Egypt, the Best Documentary Prize in Yerevan Film Festival, and it was broadcasted on Armenian Shant TV.
Last summer, Arnaud Khayadjanian has directed his second documentary “WE ARE OUR MOUNTAINS” produced bay Stanoz Films about the unknown and extraordinary people of Artsakh. In September 2017, Arnaud Khayadjanian’s new short film “DEAF HEARTS”, produced by Envie de Tempête is broadcasting on TV channel ARTE. Currently, he is developing “NO MORE HEROES” a short film produced by Good Fortune about French “greasers” written with Maïté Sonnet.
To Support Arnaud Khayadjanian visit Kickstarter
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1268609988/artsakh

The Legacy of “Zabel Yesayan” Feb. 4th marks the 140th birthday Interview Judith Saryan

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Zabel Yesayan

The Legacy of “Zabel Yesayan”
On This Day Feb. 4th marks the 140th birthday of the only woman on the list of those to be arrested on the night of # April 24, 1915, Zabel Yesayan.
Watch Wally Sarkeesian Interview Judith Saryan the Story of the incredible Armenian woman “Zabel Yesayan.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Armenian parliament holds hearings on GMO products, Serj Tankian called to stay away from Monsanto Video

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Wally Sarkeesian Interview the Famous Armenian musician Serj Tankian called to stay away from Monsanto products.

Wally Sarkeesian Interview the Famous Armenian musician Serj Tankian called to stay away from Monsanto products.

YEREVAN. – The Armenian parliament is holding hearings on “Genetically Modified Organisms, Alternatives or Compulsion” during the session on Friday.

The hearing was initiated by the standing committee on territorial management, local self-government, agriculture and environment.

The legislation concerning GMO foodstuffs was initiated in 2013, but had no continuation. Minister of Agriculture Ignati Arakelyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am that GMO seed production company Monsanto has assured that it is not importing GMO seeds, and those seed had not been found in the customs offices.

The stir about the import of GMO seeds to Armenia was caused when it became clear that Monsanto Company entered the Armenian market. Concerns that it may be dangerous for the Armenian population were expressed. Famous musician Serj Tankian also called to stay away from Monsanto products.

The U.S. Embassy commented on Armenian News-NEWS.am inquiry, saying that its’ up to the farmers and agribusinesses to decide whether to use or not to use the products and services of Monsanto

Taner Akçam’s new book includes ‘smoking gun’ of Armenian Genocide “Killing Orders”

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“Killing Orders: Talat Pasha’s Telegrams and the Armenian Genocide,”

“Killing Orders: Talat Pasha’s Telegrams and the Armenian Genocide,”

By Angela Bazydlo

In his groundbreaking new book, “Killing Orders: Talat Pasha’s Telegrams and the Armenian Genocide,” due out in March, Clark University historian Taner Akçamdestroys the Turkish government’s denial strategy. Akçam includes a recently discovered document — a “smoking gun” — that points to the Ottoman government’s central role in planning the elimination of its Armenian population. Furthermore, he successfully demonstrates that the killing orders signed by Ottoman Interior Minister Talat Pasha, which the Turkish government has long discredited, are authentic.

Akçam, described as “the Sherlock Holmes of Armenian Genocide” in a New York Times article in April 2017, made these landmark discoveries in a private archive. He argues that the documents he uncovered remove a cornerstone from the denialist edifice and definitively prove the historicity of the Armenian Genocide.

“Successive Turkish governments have gone to great lengths to ensure that evidence of the intent to extinguish the Armenian people could not be located,” Akçam says. “These findings are ‘an earthquake in the field of genocide studies.’ They will make it impossible for the Turkish government to continue to deny the Armenian Genocide.”

Dirk Moses of the University of Sydney in Australia, says the book is “essential reading for all those interested in genocide and human rights studies.”

Akçam holds the Robert Aram and Marianne Kaloosdian and Stephen and Marian Mugar Chair in Armenian Genocide Studies at Clark’s Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. An internationally recognized human rights activist, Akçam was one of the first Turkish intellectuals to acknowledge and openly discuss the Armenian Genocide.

Akcam has lectured widely and published numerous articles and books, translated into many languages. His 2012 book, “The Young Turks’ Crime Against Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in the Ottoman Empire,” was co-winner of the Middle East Studies Association’s Albert Hourani Book Award and one of ForeignAffairs.com’s “Best Books on the Middle East.”

Akçam’s many honors include the Hrant Dink Spirit of Freedom and Justice Medal from the Organization of Istanbul Armenians and the Hrant Dink Freedom Award from the Armenian Bar Association (both in 2015), and the “Heroes of Justice and Truth” awarded at the Armenian Genocide Centennial commemoration in May 2015. The Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern) recognized him as a Friend of the Armenians in 2016.

In May, he will receive the 2018 Outstanding Upstander Award from the World Without Genocide organization.

Interview Sylvia Minassian the Founder of Arpa International Film Festival, VIDEO

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Sylvia Minassian the Founder of Arpa International Film Festival, 

Sylvia Minassian the Founder of Arpa International Film Festival, 

By Wally Sarkeesian

Interview  Sylvia Minassian the Founder of Arpa International Film Festival,  on stage and the Brilliant Maria Elena, performance, Opening Night Special Screening: DALIDA.

Arpa International Film Festival.

Arpa Foundation for Film, Music & Art (AFFMA) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1995 with the purpose of providing a platform for filmmakers, musicians and artists, whose works explore subjects of social and cultural importance. AFMMA’s biggest endeavor was launching its signature Arpa International Film Festival in 1997, which quickly came to be recognized as one of the leading indie film festivals in Southern California.

Festival Mission

Arpa International Film Festival is dedicated to cultivating cultural understanding and global empathy by creating a dynamic forum for international cinema. Over the past 20 years, the festival has bridged cultural divides by fostering dialogue among people of diverse backgrounds. By showcasing local and international films that explore critical issues such as war, genocide, diaspora, dual identities, exile and multi-culturism, Arpa International Film Festival has solidified its role in safeguarding films that continue to make a social impact.

Festival History

Arpa International Film Festival was launched in 1997 by Sylvia Minassian with the support and encouragement of her husband. Currently celebrating its 20th year, Arpa International Film Festival has come to be recognized as one of the oldest independent film festival for international cinema in Los Angeles. Since its inception, the festival has continuously embraced the diversity among local and international filmmakers. Today the festival is still held at the historic Egyptian Theatre, showcasing a dynamic set of films from around the world.

Interview: The Honorable Mayor of Anjar, Lebanon Vartkes khoshian. VIDEO

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By Wally Sarkeesian

Wally Sarkeesian Interview The Honorable Mayor of Anjar, Lebanon Vartkes khoshian.
How the Armenian from Mousa Dagh refused to surrender to Turkish atrocity. Moved to Anjor Lebanon and Turn the desert and the swamps land into Greenland.

When talking about Anjar, it’s impossible not to mention the Mousadaghians (the area is almost entirely populated by Armenians from the Mousa Dagh area of Turkey). In Franz Werfel’s epic novel “The Forty Days of Mousa Dagh,” he highlights the historic battle between Armenian villagers who held their ground against thousands of Turkish soldiers. With the help of the French government the same population was, in 1939, obliged to leave their homeland and eventually settle in Anjar. Since then, they’ve tirelessly worked to transform what was basically barren land into a rich landscape. Originally comb makers, shoemakers, blacksmiths and carpenters but through agriculture and beautification they succeeding in making Anjar green. Anjar residents today also specialize as goldsmiths, artists, restaurateurs and suppliers of pantry essentials. By just walking through the village you can meet the locals and chat with them.

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GagruleLive Tour: Old Khndzoresk Cave Village – Armenia VIDEO

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Photo by www.gagrule.net

Wally Sarkeesian

The historic cave village, located on the steep slope of a gorge, is comprised of both natural and manmade caves. At the inhabiting community’s height, some estimates suggest that population grew to as many as 15,000 people. Since many of the dwellings were carved out over and around each other, a complex system of ropes and ladders were required for people to reach many corners of the community. The village even had two churches and three schools. The cave dwellings were inhabited until as late as the 1950s at which point it is said that Soviet officials deemed the caves unfit and uncivilized, forcing the remaining villagers to leave.

Today, Old Khndzoresk is frequented mostly by local livestock which graze amongst the caves, some of which have been converted to stables or storage spaces. Visitors are welcome to explore the cave system, but a trip across the gorge is not for the faint of heart. However, making the trip a bit easier if no less harrowing, is a 160-meter long suspension bridge that was built using nothing more than local funds and labor in 2012 and which shakes with every footstep. The new bridge connects Old Khndzoresk and New Khndzoresk, the modern village, bridging Armenia’s history with the present day both figuratively and literally.

Watch Filmmaker Terry George says The Promise is not Just a Film it is now a movement,

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By Wally Sarkeesian, interview

We caught up with Terry George at Arpa International film festival,

Academy Award-winning screenwriter-director Terry George (The Promise, In the Name of the Father, Hotel Rwanda, The Shore, Some Mother’s Son) received the prestigious Armin T. Wegner Humanitarian Award named after the German soldier/medic who was stationed in the Ottoman Empire during the Armenian Genocide and documented the atrocities he witnessed in photographs.

Arpa’s coveted Armin T. Wegner Humanitarian Award, presented each year to a filmmaker whose work contributes toward the struggle for social consciousness and human rights, was awarded to Terry George in recognition of his extensive body of films that have shed light on the situation in his native Northern Ireland, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Armenian Genocide.

Terry George also received a unique stone-cross sculpted by Los Angeles-based artist Hrach Gukasyan. The tradition of etching crosses on stone is unique to the Armenian and Irish nations. A special stone-cross with a Celtic cross surrounded by Armenian motifs was commissioned by Arpa IFF, symbolizing the Armenian people’s gratitude to the Irish filmmaker.

Meet 94-Year-old Armenian Grape scientist, Derenik Safaryan PhD. Conserving grape entire adult life, Video

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Wally Sarkeesian With Derenik Safaryan ANAU Leading Researcher, PhD. Scientific Center of Viticulture, Fruit Growing and Winemaking,

By Wally Sarkeesian,

I meet United nation biologist Bonnie Furman in Yerevan Armenia, after 5 minute of chet chat exchange of business card and goodby, one week letter while I was traveling from yerevan to beirut received email from Bonnie

I‘m writing to put you into contact with my colleague/friend Ruzanna (copied here). She will be able to help put you in contact with the people that you may be able to interview about grapes in Armenia. Derenik Safaryan is a 92 year old grape expert that has been collecting and conserving grape varieties for his entire adult life. He has also mentored the other grape expert in the country, Dr. Gagik Melyan. I think it would be really interesting to interview both of them.


This is how the story began, I contacted Ruzanna she arranged all the meeting and the interview, but the interview was in setting environment and it was long since Mr Safarian loaded with library of information I suggested we travel to a vineyard to show our viewers the real Armenian grapes so we did, watch the video see it yourself.


Noah is said to have planted a vineyard at the foot of the mountain, harvested grapes, fermented them and become inebriated on too much of his own wine. In the book, “Ancient Wine: The Search for the Origins of Viniculture” by Patrick E McGovern, Scientific Director of the Biomolecular Archaeology Project, University of Pennsylvania Museum, there is a reference to wine in Armenia around the 8th century BCE. Inscriptions by the kings of Urartu who were settled around Lake Van (once part of southern Armenia, now in eastern Turkey) described Ararat Valley, Armenia’s key agricultural hub, as the “land of the vineyards”. Even the Greek historian, Herodotus, wrote about wine being transported from Armenia down the Rivers Euphrates and Tigris in the 5th century BCE.

Armenia’s winemaking culture may have lapsed to some extent due to the ravages of war, but it’s back in full swing now with avant-garde wineries, post-communism vintners and snazzy wine restaurants spread across the country. Lianna Abelyan, Head of Project Implementation, Vine and Wine Foundation of Armenia, says that wine continues to be an item of importance in the daily life of Armenians.

 

Watch Wally Sarkeesian Interview Joe Berlinger Documentary ‘Intent to Destroy’ examines Armenian genocide Video

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Joe Berlinger’s Armenian Genocide Film ‘Intent To Destroy’

Hollywood: Like the recent “Architects of Denial,” the documentary “Intent to Destroy” is another strong look at how an estimated 1.5 million Christian Armenians were murdered between 1915 and 1918 by the Ottoman Empire (which became the modern Republic of Turkey), and why, a century later, the Turkish government still does not formally accept the facts of this heinous massacre nor the use of the word “genocide.”

Director Joe Berlinger uniquely explores this complex, disturbing issue by embedding with the production of “The Promise,” Terry George’s sweeping romantic drama set against the events of the Armenian genocide. Berlinger then uses scenes, off-camera bits and on-set chats (with director George, producer Mike Medavoy and crew members) from that late-2015 shoot to help create a highly dimensional survey of what Armenians often call “The Great Crime.” (“The Promise,” which starred Oscar Isaac and Christian Bale, opened in April to mixed reviews and disappointing grosses.)

The documentary, divided into three chapters (“Death,” “Denial,” “Depiction”), also features a wealth of archival footage and photos, plus interviews with actor-writer Eric Bogosian, former U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Marshall Evans, director Atom Egoyan (“Ararat”), and an array of authors and professors, all of which adds effective insight into the genocide, its longtime cultural and geopolitical ramifications, and America’s thorny place in the matter. It’s a masterful effort.