ARMENIAN REPORTER
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May 12, 2007 — From the Arts & Culture section
To see the printed version of the newspaper, complete with photographs and
additional content, visit and download the pdf files. It’s
free.
Briefly
1. Shameful Act wins top honor in Minnesota
2. Viken Berberian second novel, Das Kapital — a novel of love and money
markets
3. Egoyan retrospective in Paris continues until June 4
4. Chamber music in Armenian towns
5. Skylark Farm author in Boston on May 17
6. More than music, a debut album speaks of parental support (by Paul
Chaderjian)
* 11 Degrees of Love with zero degrees of separation
7. Chess: Aronian victorious (by Aram Hajian)
8. Twenty-first century illuminations continue an ancient Armenian tradition
(by Paul Chaderjian)
* As monks did in the past, so does a modern-day artist with an ancient soul
9. Danielle Grilli interviews Shahé Mankerian: poet, teacher, and playwright
10. Art: "My Eyes Seek the Reality" but fail to find beauty (by Betty
Panossian-Ter Sargssian)
* NPAK organizes its 9th annual alternative art festival in Yerevan
11. Stage: Voki Kalfayan is the Gazillionaire of laughter (by Lory
Tatoulian)
12. Film: War is hell. What is peace? (by Betty Panossian-Ter Sargssian)
13. Stories of Armenian cinema unveiled: Arachin siro yerke
14. Film: Ambiguity and incoherence in Salibian’s Beautiful Armenians (by
Alexander Tavitian)
*************************************** ************************************
Briefly
1. Shameful Act wins top honor in Minnesota
University of Minnesota professor Taner Akçam was honored last weekend with
a Minnesota Book Award for A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the
Question of Turkish Responsibility. Prof. Akçam’s book challenges his native
Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide. The book received the best general
nonfiction category honor and was called a "pioneering work" by judges. At
the 19th annual Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library May 5 awards
ceremony, Prof. Akçam dedicated the award to his friend, the late Hrant
Dink. "I’m deeply honored to accept this award in the hope of preventing
further genocides," he said. The awards ceremony will be broadcast on Twin
Cities Public Television’s Minnesota Channel later this month or in early
June. Prof. Akçam’s December 2006 talk at the Armenian Cultural Organization
of Minnesota was taped and broadcast by C-SPAN. That broadcast may be
purchased from the network, and a webstream of the hour-long talk is
available (search for Akcam). Shameful Act is also available at
local bookstores or through online orders.
connect:
www.t hefriends.org
2. Viken Berberian second novel, Das Kapital — a novel of love and money
markets
The much-awaited and much-anticipated second novel from literary whiz Viken
Berberian will be released on June 5, but it’s already available online for
pre-orders. On the heels of his insightful and hilarious exploration of the
mind of the Cyclist, AKA a gourmand, would-be terrorist, Beberian delves
into the culture and identity of Corsicans — who are apparently
disappearing because of the rise of a universal nationality. Advance notes
on Das Kapital say it is "an extraordinary homage to Marx’s seminal work for
the twenty-first century." Among the cast of characters are two men, one
from Wall Street and another from Corsica, both involved with the same
woman. Berberian’s publisher, Simon & Schuster, says Das Kapital is
"exquisitely written and infused with moments of irresistible humor. Das
Kapital is a riveting story about capitalism and love, and the technology
that controls them both."
connect:
3 . Egoyan retrospective in Paris continues until June 4
The Pompidou Centre in Paris began its Atom Egoyan retrospective with the
screening of the filmmaker’s new documentary titled Citadel. Egoyan’s latest
creation chronicles his wife Arsinée Khanjian’s return to her native Lebanon
28 years after escaping the civil war. Other films being screened several
times daily through June 4 are Egoyan’s full-length narratives, experimental
short films, videos and his most recent Hollywood feature, Where the Truth
Lies. An English-language website through the link below lists the full
schedule of screenings.
connect:
4. Chamber music in Armenian towns
The National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia continues to celebrate its ten
years of existence with music.
Within its goal of taking chamber music to audiences far and near, NCOA,
under the direction of conductor Aram Gharabekian, has already organized the
first of its eight concerts in the regions of Armenia, with the
collaboration of UN Armenia offices. The concert was in the city of Abovian.
During the coming weeks the NCOA will visit more Armenian towns and
villages.
5. Skylark Farm author in Boston on May 17
Antonia Arslan, the author of the best-selling Italian novel titled La
Masseria delle Allodole or Skylark Farm will speak to Boston-area residents
on Thursday, May 17, at 8:00 p.m., at the National Association for Armenian
Studies and Research (NAASR) Center, 395 Concord Ave. in Belmont. Her
Italian novel was recently translated and is available in English. Her
appearance in Massachusetts is cosponsored by Boston chapter of the
Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Society and NAASR.
connect:
617-489-1610
[email protected]
****** ************************************************** *******************
6. More than music, a debut album speaks of parental support
* 11 Degrees of Love with zero degrees of separation
by Paul Chaderjian
A few years before the start of the devastating civil war in Lebanon — when
the Paris of the Middle East, the jewel of a city, Beirut, was the capital
of the Armenian diaspora — two young college students named Seta Harboyan
and Hratch Simonian, barely 20, began a legacy, perhaps unknowingly. Their
legacy will be celebrated this weekend, once again, with the release of
their daughter’s debut record album, 11 Degrees of Love.
* Back story
>From 1972 to 1976, Seta and Hratch hosted and produced the daily Hamazkayin
Armenian Educational and Cultural Society radio program called "Haygagan
Radiozham." With the then-modern and now-ancient reel-to-reel recorders, the
couple — not yet a couple then — would wheel their dinosaur recording
machine to Armenian elementary schools, record choirs, conduct interviews
and rebroadcast them on Lebanese national radio.
One afternoon, I stared at these celebrities in amazement as they came to
record my elementary school’s choir. The school was called Mardikian. The
choir director was Sarkis Panossian. And we were called the Jeboor (cicada)
Choir. Seta and Hratch were hip adults, beautiful, young, suave, and smooth,
and they were on the radio. We were seven or eight, nervous, impressionable,
and in awe. We were about to be on the radio!
Tapes were spliced with razors back then, erroneous takes edited out and
three-quarter-inch magnetic mylar tape was reattached, sometimes with Scotch
tape, sometimes with adhesive paper tape. That’s how radio was done back
then, when radio was king and when TV was on only in the evenings and at
night. Seta and Hratch were the stars, the voices of a vibrant, healthy, and
dynamic community.
Each weeknight, Seta’s and Hratch’s solid, articulate, confident,
intelligent, and cultured voices would sound from large antennas to be
amplified by large and small speakers from Bourj Hamoud to Antelias. They
announced classical music, engaged in cultural dialogue, conducted
interviews, created children’s programming, and played pop music. Seta
hosted the children’s programs, pop music shows and sometimes the literary
and cultural programs. Hratch was in charge of the interviews and produced
the other programs with Seta.
* Then a war broke out
The Lebanese Civil War. Christian Phalangists. Muslim Druz. PLO and American
military. There were snipers. East and West Beirut. There was chaos,
candlelight, and fear. Bombs fell. Jets flew across the sky. Burning tires
clouded what was once paradise.
A nation was destroyed. Businesses and homes were burned; so were entire
neighborhoods. Thousands were killed. Highrises and midrises crumpled. The
great naval gateway from the West to the East was history. The playground of
the world’s elite, the Arabs, the Euro-riche, the meeting place of Eastern
and Western thought was destroyed.
Lives were changed forever, and the grandsons and granddaughters of the
Genocide had to flee again — one trauma after another, once deported, now
deportees.
The Radiozham and a community were silenced.
* Flash forward 30 years
One late Sunday night last fall, in a fourth-floor apartment on Baghramian
1
in Yerevan, the Trinity Broadcasting Network on satellite TV is keeping me
and my laptop company.
Superstar preacher Joel Osteen is asking the congregation of his
megachurch in Houston and millions around the world what kind of a legacy
they are leaving behind. "What choices are you making for future generations
of your family?" asks the preacher. "Are you leaving a legacy of greed,
hope, kindness, love, and integrity? Or are you building a positive
inheritance?"
I type his questions, a note to self, something to ask myself in the
future. What kind of legacies are we leaving future generations? What are we
placing higher value on? Benzes? High fashion? Loyalty? Truth? Love for the
arts? Cultural heritage?
* Months later
In a Glendale hotel room, I read a "Life in the Armenian Diaspora" weblog
entry on cilicia.com about a band called Aviatic and how their song had been
used for a Lifetime Channel movie. I go to iTunes and listen to the song,
read the band’s biography and media clippings, and remember Seta and Hratch.
Armenians are like the Internet, unexplainably interconnected.
The man singing through the Internet is Sebu Simonian, Hratch and Seta’s
son. He is the lead singer of Aviatic, a band that has already made a big
splash, created "an echo" (artsakank) — as they say in Armenia.
For a few dollars, I download "Arrival," Aviatic’s debut album and hear
Sebu singing a song he composed, arranged and recorded — a song that had
begun as a talk to the Mountain, Mt. Ararat. The song may have cost 99
cents, but to a bantoukhd Armenian, a migrant worker, who has also stared at
the Mountain, the emotions validated in that song, through Sebu’s voice,
were priceless.
Sebu had looked at the majesty of the giant rock on his first visit to
Armenia and had been moved to write, "Stop staring / stop caring / It’ll
burn your eyes / It’ll make you blind. . . . Yes, I can see you / but I
can’t even try to hold you…"
In room 1423 in Glendale, in November of 2006, I made the connection. I
knew what Joel had been asking. I knew how Hratch and Seta had passed a
legacy on to their son.
This legacy was to be validated in my eyes, yet again, when an e-mail
passed through cyberspace last week, inviting Aviatic fans to celebrate the
release of the Simonian’s daughter’s new album:
From: Karin Simonian
To: [email protected]
Sent: Friday, May 4, 2007 10:12:13 A.M.
Subject: My album’s coming out!
Hi everyone!
I wanted to share some exciting news. My brother Sebu and I have been
working on my debut album over the last year, and it’s finally done! It’s
called 11 Degrees Of Love. We’ve set a release date for May 15….
Warmly,
-Karin Simonian
* The interview
I meet the Simonian siblings at Sebu’s Stereotrain recording, rehearsal, and
production studios in Burbank. He has half-a-dozen studios under one roof
and rents them hourly or weekly to other musicians and recording artists.
This is also where he records music for his own band Aviatic, and where he
recorded his sister’s 11 Degrees of Love.
"My parents always encouraged me," says 28-year-old Sebu. "I’ve always
played music. I’ve always loved the piano and singing. I also love
technology and music technology and how the music industry works."
While in high school, Sebu decided that he wanted to write and perform
songs. He bought a small recorder and began recording his compositions with
a number of musicians and bands. He even recorded demos or audition tapes
for other bands. His career in music had already begun.
"The bands did really well," says Sebu. "Whatever project I was involved
in would get some level of success, and that motivated me and encouraged me
to keep going."
Aviatic’s debut album has also received much praise and a number of
awards. The band also won two battle-of-the-bands competitions, beating some
80 bands to land the coveted top spot.
Some of the other benchmarks for success in the information age are ones
Aviatic has also scored like landing on the top ten of Yahoo Music’s adult
alternative chart, receiving thousands of plays per week on personalized
Internet radio stations around the world, being featured on television
movies, purchases from iTunes, sales through stores and via cdrama.com and
the sea of fans who turn up at their Southern California gigs.
"We have a loyal following," say Sebu, whose band averages one performance
every 45 days. Each appearance is usually made up of a set of nine songs.
Over the past year, Aviatic has performed 20 shows at local clubs like the
House of Blues, the Henry Fonda Theater, the Roxie, the Knitting Factory,
the Whiskey, the Troubadour, and the Viper Room.
"Aviatic is modern alternative rock band," says Sebu. "We are very melodic
and have a lot of harmonies. We can also get very energetic and very heavy,
but at the same time stay melodic and emotional and mellow it up a little
bit."
In addition to Sebu, the lyrics are co-written by the band’s drummer and
co-producer Barrett Yeretsian, and sometimes all four band members work
together to create new songs.
"Barrett is a recording engineer and producer fulltime," says Sebu. "My
bass player, Clint Feddersen, is a fulltime lawyer by day and rock artist by
night. He’s got a cool double life. I sometimes call him Clark Kent. He
looks like Clark Kent too."
The band’s guitarist is Ryan Welker. Sebu says Ryan lives the life of a
rock star, bartending at nights and playing music during the day. Sebu says
members of Aviatic have known each other for quite a while. They have worked
together in music in some capacity for nearly seven years, but they have
been together as a band only for the past two years.
"Aviatic pertains to flight and traveling," says Sebu. "So those are the
kinds of feelings I’d like to deliver with my music. Spiritual, artistic,
flight, movement, passion, revolution. When I think of our logo, which was
designed by my sister by the way, there is a bird and a runway. It ties
together a lot of things, nature and technology, flight and landing. There
is a balance. That’s what life is all about. It’s kind of a Yin-Yang idea."
The themes that Sebu says he is drawn to are communication, human
interaction, and love. "I think half the time, or maybe more than half the
time," he says, "the songs are directly related to a specific incident or a
specific person. The rest of the time, I put myself in other people’s shoes.
I use my imagination and try to become an actor and write a fictitious
script."
One of his songs, Stop Staring, was written in the summer of 2002, when
Sebu had traveled to Armenia with his family. "I was looking at Mt. Ararat
and thinking how disconnected I am from it, even though it’s right in front
of my face. That was the initial theme of loss. That inspired me to write
the song, but it eventually transformed and became broader. Most people when
they hear the song, they interpret it as the loss of a human being, either
by death or a breakup."
Sebu says he wants to return to Armenia this summer or next. He hopes to
perform with his band at the Pan-Armenian games that are scheduled for
August. He says he hopes to tap into the global Armenian community that will
be in Yerevan in August.
In addition to upcoming gigs, Sebu is working on a solo electronica album
with music he has composed and arranged. He is also collaborating with a
band called the Traveling Saints and busy with the launch and promotion of
his sister’s album.
"I’ve put out a lot of music with my previous bands," says Sebu, referring
to bands like Io and the Unknown Project. "But, of course, they’ve been very
independent and very grassroots. With my sister’s album, we are hoping to
make it a much bigger thing and go nationwide and get distribution."
* Enter Karin, enter singing
The eleven songs on 11 Degrees of Love have been in the making for the past
year-and-a-half. The Simonian siblings have been carefully planning the
release of Karin’s debut, which takes places in a few days.
"I always wanted to record an entire album," says 25-year-old Karin. "It
was a matter of timing and finding the right opportunity to record. And
obviously, I needed Sebu’s time, talent, and recording skills."
Karin recorded a few songs while in high school. Then she was off to
college to study interior design at her brother’s alma mater and launch her
career in the field. Sebu says that while she was busy as a residential
interior designer, he established his Stereotrain recording studios and
focused on Aviatic. Both kept Karin’s solo album on the back burner.
Karin’s first singing experiences were in elementary school and then
performing backup vocals for her brother’s bands. She was also in the choir
of their high school musical, Pirates of Penzance. The first original song
she recorded was at the age of 16. That song, she says, was about "puppy
love."
While in college and pursuing her career, Karin says she always dabbled in
music, writing lyrics here and there, making notes, singing. "A few years
ago," she says, "the timing was right, and my maturity had reached a level
where I was able to commit to the work it takes to make an entire album."
Karin says music has been in her life from day one. "There are pictures of
us at the piano as babies," she says. "I started taking piano lessons when
I
was four or five. Sebu picked up guitar in high school, played the violin,
now plays keyboard and a little bit of drums and base."
11 Degrees of Love touches upon different aspects of love, says Karin.
"It’s about love and heartbreak and all the different situations you can
find yourself in."
"Most of the inspiration for the songs and lyrics came from her," says
Sebu. "I would help her bring the song to its completed form, by throwing
back and forth some ideas, changing lyrics and music, and making
adjustments. It’s been a real collaborate effort."
"He has a lot of experience," says Karin, "and he has a very natural
ability to just come up with things that are very touching and moving
musically for me, and obviously, for a lot of people who have reacted to his
music over the years."
Karin says she is lucky to have someone like her older brother to
collaborate with, someone to help her realize her dream. "It’s really fun to
work with each other," she says, "because we have very similar tastes and a
lot of the same influences as far as who we listen to and who we look up
to."
The siblings say it’s also easy to work with one another because there is
trust between them. "The cool thing about working with Karin is that she’s
my sister, and I can blurt out whatever opinion I have about her ideas, and
vice versa," says Sebu. "If we don’t like something, we can just say, ‘what
are you thinking, we’re not going to do that.’ God knows she’s said that
many times before to me. And that actually really helps song become better."
With 11 Degrees of Love ready for release, Sebu says the real hard work is
about to begin. "I’m excited," says Karin, "and I’m ready for it."
From broadcasting in Beirut to creating beautiful music in Hollywood, the
Simonian Legacy continues.
connect:
myspace.com/aviatic
****** ************************************************** *******************
7. Chess: Aronian victorious
by Aram Hajian
YEREVAN — Levon Aronian, Armenia’s top player, beat the world champion of
chess, Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, 4–2, in a rapid chess match in Yerevan
on May 4–6.
The six-game match was held at the regal Opera House, which was packed
each day beyond capacity. The games were conducted with each player having
25 minutes to make all his moves, with a 10 second increment added after
each move. This format, known as rapid chess, lies between the faster time
control known as blitz (customarily 5 minutes per side) and the more
protracted classical chess (approx. 2 hours per side). Rapid chess is
particularly appropriate for spectators who wish to follow the games in
person, on online via the Internet, as the action happens fast enough to
avoid the long lulls common in classical chess yet not too fast so as to
zoom by unappreciated and incomprehensible. Hundreds of thousands of online
viewers joined the thousands live in following the most exciting chess event
worldwide this year to date.
Kramnik with white (which moves first in chess) struck first, snaring his
Armenian opponent in his "home cooking." Preparation is an important part of
chess, and Kramnik is a master of theory. Home preparation is a chess term
used to describe variations that one opponent has studied which stem from
known opening theory. The idea is to catch one’s opponent in a position you
have already analyzed at home (often with a computer and several human
assistants) that you know to be advantageous for you. Your opponent is
sailing off into uncharted waters while you are simply recalling
pre-analyzed good continuations. Time is often the enemy here, and in game
one, a bad position plus zeitnot (time trouble) doomed Aronian, and Kramnik
won effortlessly to go up 1–0.
Game two was quite different in every respect, from style to pace, to
outcome. Players diverged from theory quickly, and Aronian with white
steered the game into quieter territory, where he had a small but steady
advantage. He gradually outplayed his more heralded opponent and went on to
secure victory. After day one, the score stood at 1–1.
The second day was shocking. First with black, and then in game 4 with
white, Aronian outplayed Kramnik with tactical finesses, creative ideas, and
resolute determination. A 3–1 lead with only two days to go all but
guaranteed Aronian match victory as he needed simply one draw in the
remaining two games to win.
Yet, the champion didn’t give in without a fight. The opening they assayed
in game 5 was unorthodox and left even strong grandmasters in the audience
scratching their heads. Move after move, the players kept the spectators
(and presumably each other) guessing as the clocks wound down, the position
oscillating between one player’s advantage and then the other’s
counterstrikes. Yet when the dust had settled, Aronian had forced a
repetition of moves. In chess, when the same position is repeated three
times, a draw can be claimed. Eschewing repetition would mean likely
disaster for Kramnik, so a draw was agreed.
The final game was played despite the fact that Aronian had already
clinched match victory. Yet the excitement of this game was no less than
what was witnessed in the first five. Game six ended in a wild draw that
thrilled the spectators, both for its electrifying finish, as well as the
fact that the 4–2 victory was now official. Aronian, with the home crowd
behind him, had defeated the world champion in a rapid match.
What does this mean? A rapid match is an exhibition of sorts, not
affecting players’ ratings or champion status. Nevertheless, it is yet
another feather added to the plumage on Aronian’s crowded cap as he sets his
sights on future matches and challenges for the ultimate prize — currently
on Kramnik’s head — the championship crown.
* A legendary opponent
Vladimir Kramnik, born on June 25, 1975, is currently the world champion,
rated 2772, and third in the world. By any measure, he has already achieved
legendary status in the chess world. For over a decade and a half, he has
been at the top echelon of sport’s most intellectual game, finally scaling
the chess summit with his wresting of the world championship crown from
Garry Kasparov in 2000.
Kramnik is renowned as an extremely solid player who loses rarely, even
when not at his best. A testament to his unyielding performance is his
streak in 1999 and 2000 where he played 86 games at classical controls
without a single defeat. He is a tough opponent for all, and under any
circumstances.
* A rising star
Levon Aronian of Armenia was born on October 6, 1982. He currently is ranked
fifth in the world with a rating of 2759. The latest in the long line of
Armenian chess stars, the 24-year-old Levon Aronian recently catapulted
himself into very top circle of the chess elite with victories in the 2006
Category XX Morelia/Linares Super-GM tournament.
Other major accomplishments include top finishes at Gibraltar,
Nagorno-Karabakh, the Tal Memorial, Wijk-aan-Zee, and victory at the World
Cup tournament in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. In addition, among Aronian’s most
memorable achievements must be his role in helping lead his Armenian
compatriots to a deserved gold medal at the Turin Olympiad in 2006 where he
anchored the Armenian team on board one. Despite the fact that he is
relatively new to the elite stage, the young grandmaster is a two-time world
junior champion (under-12 in 1994 and under-20 in 2002) and maintains a
light, positive attitude under all circumstances.
Levon Aronian’s playing style is difficult to characterize and easy to
misunderstand. However, this much is certain: his games are unconventional
and exciting, while his attitude is engaging and uncompromising. As he
prepares for the World Championship Candidate Matches to be held in Elista,
Russia, later in May, Aronian is one opponent that is sure to elicit
discomfort for all potential adversaries across the board.
****************************************** *********************************
8. Twenty-first century illuminations continue an ancient Armenian tradition
* As monks did in the past, so does a modern-day artist with an ancient soul
by Paul Chaderjian
Armenian illuminations date as far back as the fifth century, which is
called the Golden Age of Armenian literature. This tradition of creating
miniature illustrations and border designs around texts from the Gospels is
now being continued by a young Southern Californian. Arpine Shakhbandaryan
has picked up this ancient art and is already making a name for her self.
The 25-year-old’s work will be on display on May 19 as part of an emerging
artists exhibit in Studio City, Calif.
"To illuminate is to adorn with gold leaf," says Arpine, explaining that
a
gold leaf is gold that has been beaten into extremely thin sheets — thinner
than a cobweb.
"The work starts first with the pencil drawing," she says. "Then I apply
special leaf glue with a paintbrush to the areas that will be golden. Then
comes the process called gilding or applying the four-inch by four-inch thin
sheet of foil to the surface. This must be done carefully and gently."
After applying the gold leaf to the paper, Arpine brushes away the excess,
revealing a shiny layer of gold covering specific parts of her design. The
final step in the process is painting the remaining surface with
watercolors.
Arpine’s illuminations can be as small as four-inches by six-inches. Those
take about two weeks to complete. Larger pieces that are 18 inches by 24
inches may take as many as 300 hours or three months. In addition to paper,
Arpine also uses wood and fabric as her canvas.
"Illuminations told the story of God and Christ," says Arpine. "There were
also manuscripts that documented Armenian music and scenes from the lives of
our people. They were hand created by the monks and were considered luxury
items because of the time and cost consumed to create a single manuscript."
Along with creating illuminations out of selected texts from the Bible,
Arpine is also commissioned to create specific religious themes or to paint
a person’s name or initials in a religious motif. A majority of her work,
however, represents Armenian culture and history through illustrations of
churches, the Armenian alphabet, or a map of the homeland.
* Early works
Arpine created her first illumination in a class at the Atanian Art Center
in Glendale. She was 18 at the time and decided she wanted to paint the
Armenian alphabet in the style of illuminated manuscripts.
"I asked Professor Atanian how to do the gold technique," she says. "I
remember when Professor Atanian gave me the glue, gold, and a very fine
brush, I felt privileged and honored." Her teacher then told her she was the
first of his many hundred students to inquire about creating an
illumination.
Arpine says much of what she knows about illuminations comes from books
she has researched about Armenian manuscripts from the seventh to 12th
centuries. She says she also frequents the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los
Angeles to look at the illuminations on display.
"I started drawing and painting in an academic setting in high school,"
she says. "My art teacher in high school was Scarlett Lowe. Her
encouragement and praise of my work is what motivated me to take private art
classes at the Atanian Center when I was 16."
After exploring her interest in illuminations, Arpine ventured into
creating her art on canvas and wood when she entered college. While an
undergraduate at the University of Southern California, she met Fr. Vazken
Movsessian, who invited her to exhibit her work at St. Peter’s Armenian
Church Youth Ministries Center in Glendale.
* The west wall
"The opening of my first solo show was on January 22, 2005, and it was a
truly memorable and treasured day," says Arpine. "After the show, Fr. Vazken
proposed that I paint a mural on the west wall of the center and believed
that I could do it."
Arpine says painting the mural took a year of planning, and she began
painting it on a part time basis in March of last year. Arpine devoted all
her time to the project from June to December 2006.
"During the first three months, I had a full-time employee," says Arpine.
"Harut Gentshoyan, who is studying at the San Francisco Art Institute now,
helped me during the transfer process and with background colors."
The mural Arpine created portrays St. Peter holding two keys on the far
left. To his right are Sts. Hripsime and Gayane, next to the cathedral of
St. Gayane. Angels and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove are painted
above the entrance to the church. Then further right is Jesus walking with
an Armenian family, and the tree of life and knowledge in illuminated
manuscript is on the far right.
"The story of the mural was beautifully described by Fr. Vazken during a
Christmas Day sermon," says Arpine. "The mural represents the story of love.
Jesus taught his disciples love. St. Peter, an apostle, carried and preached
that message of love, which was learned by St. Hripsime and St. Gayane. They
shared this message with the Armenian people. They had an unbending love for
Christ, and their refusal to give in to the demands of the pagan King Drtad
preserved that love. Then that message of love was transferred to the
Armenian family."
* The future
Arpine graduated from USC with an undergraduate degree in biology and a
minor in fine arts, drawing and painting. She’s now enrolled in the
university’s graduate program in public health. She plans to work in
preventive medicine, specifically, she says, in the field of obesity
research, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.
Ahead is Arpine’s presentation on May 19th as part of the AGBU
Manoogian-Demirdjian School Alumni Association’s "Nerg" exhibition. The
event at Lurie Galleries, 12202 Ventura Blvd. in Studio City takes place
from 8 o’clock in the evening until midnight. Arpine is also planning a show
at the Brand Library Art Galleries in Glendale in November and December of
2008.
The first question many people ask Arpine about her work, she says, is
whether the illuminations are real or not. "Many people confuse my hand
paintings with computer generated images," she says, "because the work is
very symmetrical and the details can be extremely small."
Arpine says people also ask her if she uses a magnifying glass a lot,
which she doesn’t; and she says, "people always get excited when I tell them
I use genuine 24-karat gold leaf."
connect:
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9. Danielle Grilli interviews Shahé Mankerian: poet, teacher, and playwright
from poeticdiversity.com
Poet-playwright Shahé Mankerian spent his formative years in Beirut,
Lebanon. After migrating to the United States, he received his graduate
degree in English from California State University, Los Angeles. In 2003, he
won both the Erika Mumford Prize and the Daniel Varoujan Award from the New
England Poetry Club. Edifice Wrecked nominated his poem "She’s Hiding My
Keys" for the 2004 Pushcart Prize. In 2005, his play Vort (Worm) was adapted
into a short film; it premiered at the Silver Lake Film Festival spring of
2006. Recently, his play "Little Armenia" debuted at Hollywood’s prestigious
Fountain Theatre.
dg: How did your childhood in Beirut and eventual immigration to Los
Angeles shape you as a poet and a person?
sm: With all its turmoil and the unrest of the civil war, I couldn’t ask
for a better childhood. My brother and I explored the streets of this
amazing city called Beirut, and at times, I guess we saw things that we
weren’t supposed to see as children. I’m even glad that the schools were
closed most of the time; it gave me the chance to subconsciously take mental
photographs of the war-torn city. In retrospect, coming to Los Angeles was
also a blessing, because it gave me the needed distance to remember the
past. I guess the city of Beirut gave my writing that foreign accent. It
allowed me to say things with my own rhythm. Juxtaposed against the
landscape of L.A., Beirut provided me with metaphors.
dg: How old were you when you began to write? What have been the major
"aha" moments of your creative journey?
sm: I started writing when I was probably six or seven years old. As soon
as I discovered the Armenian alphabet and the Armenian stories in my reading
book, I created my own stories on any piece of discarded paper. I had many
"aha" moments along the way. I saw my first play in Beirut, when I was
probably seven years old. It was a play by Jacques Hagopian, a famous
Armenian poet. I went to the theatre with my parents and witnessed for the
first time my parents crying. I didn’t really understand what was going on
that stage, but whatever it was it had moved my parents to tears. I remember
wanting to write plays so that I could play with the emotions of adults,
especially those who hardly ever showed any emotions.
The Beatles gave me a lot of "aha" moments. Lennon and McCartney taught me
how to woo girls with words. When I first came to America, I was 12, and my
English was limited. In order to impress my middle-school crushes, I
experimented by stealing my favorite lines from Beatles songs and attaching
them all together; I ended up creating my own poems. A trick that, I am
afraid, hardly ever worked with the girls.
I kept journals throughout high school. However, another "aha" moment came
at Pasadena City College. I took a class with Ron Koertge. He kept repeating
the line "Show, don’t tell." I took his class 4 or 5 semesters in a row in
order to understand what he really meant. His workshops changed my sappy
high school writings into more substantial sappiness.
Finally, at Cal State Los Angeles, when I started working on my masters in
English with a creative writing emphasis in poetry, Professors Timothy
Steele and Jun Liu challenged me to explore my childhood years in Lebanon.
They kept pushing me to explore various types of poetic forms. They shaped
my initial poems about Lebanon.
dg: What motivates you as a writer?
sm: I’m motivated when I know I have a story to tell. The challenge is to
tell it within a short space with the most precise selection of words. I am
often stimulated visually. Most of the time, events or people provide that
motivation.
Small writing workshops motivate me as well; I’m obligated to bring in new
work every time we meet.
dg: I understand you are a playwright as well as a poet. Do you find that
these two mediums influence one another?
sm: They definitely do influence one another. Both mediums deal with
playful words. I do tend to use dialogue or direct quotes in my poetry. It
allows the poem to breathe utilizing different voices. Also, when I write
plays, I am very concise with the dialogue of my characters. When they
"overspeak," they tend to say less interesting things. I am greatly
influenced by the poetic language of Tennessee Williams and Lorca. Again,
it’s all about word choice. Both in my poems and plays, I also enjoy
sporadic pauses. It’s like using a stanza or a sentence break to create a
silence, thus a tension. Sometimes the slow revelation of words creates a
prolonged striptease on paper.
dg: You are a teacher of poetry to both middle and junior high school
students. How do you feel your occupation influences your writing? Creative
direction?
sm: Teaching is about getting the other excited. It’s not about the self.
My job is to get my students to enjoy reading and writing. I don’t have time
to think about my writing when I’m in the classroom; it’s all about them.
Once a year, I write a play for them. However, these plays are not about my
journey as a writer. These plays celebrate the talents of my students. Does
my occupation influence my writing? Sometimes. However, my students are
better poets than I am. They are fearless when it comes to playing or
experimenting with words.
dg: What are your thoughts about being one of the 31 poets who appeared in
the GV6 The Odyssey: Poets, Passion and Poetry documentary? In what way do
you think this documentary will help nonpoets understand poetry?
sm: It was a great honor to be in the GV6 the Odyssey. There were so many
incredible poets in the bunch. Bob Bryan, the director, believed that poetry
provides remedy to the soul. He created this documentary to educate the
young. I hope educators in our mundane world of "No Child Left Behind" push
forward the importance of reading, writing, and reciting poetry. I don’t
know if nonpoets will understand poetry after seeing this documentary, but
I
definitely know children will get it. While watching the documentary, it
would be interesting if a classroom full of students asked the teacher to
turn off the poetic babble so that they can actually write poetry.
dg: Who would you consider to be your greatest literary influences?
sm: William Saroyan. He celebrated the lives of Armenian immigrant
families in California. He chose simple words to tell complicated stories.
dg: You have published a book of poems titled Children of Honey. Have you
other books available or do you have a new book in the works? Where do you
expect to be featuring this year?
sm: It’s been over 15 years since I wrote the poems in Children of Honey.
I have a couple of manuscripts waiting for the right home or publisher. I’m
in no rush. It’s more important to focus on writing than publishing. On the
other hand, I regularly send my work out to journals and e-zines. Most of
the time I get rejection slips, but sometimes when the moon is just right.
.
. .
dg: Thank you.
******************************************** *******************************
10. Art: "My Eyes Seek the Reality" but fail to find beauty
* NPAK organizes its 9th annual alternative art festival in Yerevan
by Betty Panossian-Ter Sargssian
Yerevan has an annual alternative art festival. I have to admit that fact
was a surprise to me, albeit a pleasant one. I was excited, but luckily my
expectations were not too high when I showed up at NPAK, the Armenian Center
for Contemporary Experimental Art.
This is the ninth consecutive year this festival is being organized. But
most participants were clearly taking their first steps in alternative art.
There were no standouts.
What was interesting and exciting was the simple fact that young people in
Armenia are interested in alternative art and are trying to do something.
The Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art has given them a
forum.
The festival has become a tradition, although in its first years it wasn’t
formally called an alternative art festival. It was simply a gathering of
young Armenian artists who dared to experiment with alternative ways of
expressing themselves in the arts. It includes every form of art: theater,
sculpture, cinema, installation, performance, rock and electronic music,
video arts, cartoons, paintings, and photography.
The festival organized in 2000 by curator David Garian was a turning point
in the history of the festival. It was the first to include everything from
film to avant-garde music.
This year’s festival has an interesting title: "My Eyes Seek the Reality."
"This festival encourages the participation of young and new names," says
Liza Shirinian, one of the two curators, "and we were very happy to present
many new names this year, besides the already experienced young artists."
"During a discussion that was part of the festival, many people asked what
is meant by alternative art," says Tsomak, the other curator of the
festival.
"Many assume that this festival exists just for its own sake," Tsomak
says, "but it is the opposite of what they think."
She asserts that the title of the festival, "My Eyes Seek the Reality," is
a synonym of the term revolution, and that it is related to the youth. "We
have chosen this title because in a sense it embraces a a youthful meaning,"
she adds. "You reach an age when you really begin to grasp the reality and
see what is behind things."
And what reality do the artists who are part of this festival see? Dark,
pessimistic, and crude colors dominate the exhibition hall, where the
authors are trying to reveal their revolutionary selves. "Those are the
reality," says Liza, adding that social problems create a depressing mood in
the artists.
I ask the curators how alternative art is accepted in Armenia. Tsomak and
Liza giggle first, then Liza says, "Today many people still have no
perception of what alternative art really means and how it differs from
classical art. Our national academy of fine arts lacks a section dedicated
to alternative arts."
And in that sense at least the festival fills a gap. This year the
festival is witnessing an increased number of visitors. It is an indicator
that many eyes seek reality.
"My Eyes Seek the Reality" runs through May 30, at NPAK in Yerevan.
connect:
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11. Stage: Voki Kalfayan is the Gazillionaire of laughter
by Lory Tatoulian
Entering Voki Kalfayan’s world is like stepping in a mad circus, where
reality is heightened, distorted, erratic and very, very funny, writes. Voki
is known for traveling the world as one of the clowns in Cirque du Soleil,
but his own theatrical creations give him free rein to explore his full
performance capacity.
Voki has honed his craft over the years playing several characters from a
questionably straight acrobat to a vampire’s hapless assistant, yet one of
his most notable characters is the Gazillionaire.
"With the Gazillionaire character, I designed it and defined it to make it
the most fun I can have on stage," he says. "It is exactly what I want to be
doing."
On Monday, May 14, Voki will begin a run of his critically acclaimed show,
"The Gazillionaire," at the M Bar in Hollywood. The Gazillionaire show is
one of Voki’s latest creations, and it is sure to bring a breath of fresh
air into the Los Angeles theater scene. Not only is the Gazillionaire an
unconventional show in all its forms, but to witness Voki embody this
character will surely be a unique treat for all theatergoers.
The Gazillionaire is a talk show, where the Gazillionaire character
interviews an array of other bizarre characters. The Gazillionaire himself
is a grotesque figure who has an exaggerated love for money and displays his
wealth with decadence and reckless indulgence. Voki inhabits this character
with virtuosity and psychic impulse. His physicality is strewn with
awkwardness and perverse gestures that make crowds first cringe and then
explode with laughter. When the Gazillionaire is not even speaking,
audiences are compelled to watch this most peculiar human being, especially
when he is making sexual overtures with his wiry and gnarled body.
The character is dressed in a 1940s ruffled lounge suite adorned with
golden lapels and bright gold loafers. His greased hair is plastered to his
skull, and his one gold tooth glistens from his mouth like a cheap symbol
for all of his raunchy spoils. Voki explains, "The irony lies in constantly
playing every expectation against itself. I love working with the money, the
irony of the money, because I don’t do any of this for the money."
The Gazillionaire is timeless, and ultimately he is indefinable. Audiences
say they can’t get enough of this obscure creature.
What is most impressive about Voki’s work is his improvisational
abilities. Improvisational theater, or improv, is when the material is not
scripted but created in the moment, in response to the actor’s immediate
environment.
Given any situation, Voki has flawless comedic instincts that allow him to
react to each theatrical moment with wry humor and pure wit. His theatrical
impulses permit him to engage in a workout of cerebral calisthenics, where
he is constantly acting and reacting to the audience in an instant. Unlike
most traditional shows, the Gazillionaire is about ninety percent improv.
Voki developed it this way because he believes that the show is about
working with the audience and making them feel a part of the whole process.
He feels that the core of the show is about making people laugh.
"What everyone brings into the room is just as important as to what I
bring," says Voki. "The show is created with the audience every night, so
it’s a different show each time it’s performed."
This formula keeps the show fresh and alive each night. The energy of the
show never loses its intensity because Voki is continually hurling slapstick
comments or engaging in a comedic repartee with the audience. He says he
wants everyone who walks into the theater to feel that they are transformed
into a hyper reality, where everything is oblique and a little . . . or very
much off-kilter.
Voki refuses to write a script; instead he relies on the competence of
knowing his character and trusting his raw improv skills. The Gazillionaire
is such a polished persona with such a defined point of view that it is
difficult for Voki to ever lose the momentum he has established with the
character.
Voki works on a bare stage, and his one prop is nothing more than a stool.
The magic unfolds when amusing scenarios are created from the pure kinetic
transference that occurs between the performer and the crowd. Voki explains,
"For me, it’s working with what I have on stage and with the audience. There
is nothing to hide behind. It’s really about being honest to what is
happening. It’s about the honesty of every moment."
To add to the show’s zaniness, the Gazillionaire has special guests who
are invited to display their special talents. Past guests on The
Gazillionaire show have varied from "Larry the Homeless Magician" to a real
pregnant women, who performs lascivious dances.
Voki says he is most interested in having guests appear on his show who
are not obvious or recognizable characters. He says he has performers
approach him and tell him they want to play a "George Bush type" of
character. But Voki says he wants his guests to stay away from the common
and instead create characters that are completely original.
"I’d rather bring in a guest that is something you haven’t seen or heard
of before," he says, "not the obvious, not the cliché, so that you’re
forming new opinions as the show goes on."
Many of the guests that appeared in the Gazillionaire show in Las Vegas
will also be making appearances in the Hollywood show. Guest performers are
also clowns and actors that Voki has worked with in the past. He recognizes
the strengths of each performer and asks of them to build upon their talents
and create wacky characters that will fit into the specific style of the
show.
Voki demands that other performers also don’t script their acts. He pushes
his guests to jump head first into the improvised style, solely working off
the crowd and building comedic scenarios from the fodder that the audience
provides.
"Everyone is in it together," Voki explains. "I want the cast to
constantly be on their toes, living on the edge, to see if we can all
survive it."
Voki has incorporated the band Fish Circus into the show. The local,
six-piece music group helps amplify the quirkiness of the show. The band
also has to be ready to improvise. Their cues are often different each
night.
Anais Thomassian is the lead singer of Fish Circus, but this time the
supple performer will leave the music to the band. Instead, she will play
one of the main characters in the show. Anais will be playing Penny, a naive
girl who undermines the show with sweet sentiments and feminine
sensibilities. Her brand of comedy can be just as lethal because she also
has her fair share of dirty lines and crass comments. But coming from sweet
Penny, the audience seems to forgive her much more easily.
Voki Kalfayan’s theatrical style is in the tradition of commedia
dell’arte. Also known as "comedy of humors" or "extemporal comedy," comedia
dell’arte is a popular form of improvisational theater that was born in
Italy between the 15th and 18th centuries. The stock characters found in
commedia dell’arte were the predecessors for modern-day clowning.
Voki’s theatrical roots can be traced back to when he first started
studying commedia at Vassar College in New York. He later polished his craft
by professionally studying clowning at the Ringling Brothers Clown College.
In 2003 Voki joined Cirque du Soleil and traveled the globe, performing in
the shows "O" and "Quidam." Even though most people assume that Cirque du
Soleil would be the apex of his career, Voki does not necessarily consider
it to be that significant in the whole scheme of things. With the
Gazillionaire show he feels that he has truly come into his own.
"I spent a lot of time trying to get to Cirque," he says, "and in that
time I had already developed so much that once I got there, I had already
outgrown my need to be there. It was an amazing experience, but I knew that
I wanted to move on."
Voki possesses the heart and soul of a clown. Armored with prankish
antics, he challenges the ethos of what we all accept to be true and sacred.
He goes beyond breaking the fourth wall, and instead dives straight into the
marrow, creating a communion with the audience that can only come out of
live theater.
"If you look into what the Gazillionaire is," says Voki, "it’s about
pushing the boundaries of people’s own tolerance, in terms of what they’ll
accept and see, and how they ultimately define their world."
* * *
If you go
Voki Kalfayan will be performing the Gazilionaire show at M Bar in Hollywood
beginning Monday, May 14 at 8 P.M. The show will continue with five weekly
performances on Saturday, May 19 at 10 P.M.; Tuesday, May 22 at 8 P.M.;
Saturday, June 2 at 10 P.M.; and Monday, June 4 at 8 P.M. For reservations,
call 323-856-0036.
*********************************** ****************************************
12. Film: War is hell. What is peace?
* At the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival first-time Armenian director Vardan
Hovhannisian was granted the Best New Documentary Filmmaker award for his
Story of People in War and Peace.
by Betty Panossian-Ter Sargssian
Reopening the wounds of past is hard and healing at the same time, and that
is what you see in Vardan Hovhannisian’s captivating docudrama, A Story of
People in War and Peace, an internationally produced film depicting the
inside story of the Nagorno-Karabakh war. In 90 minutes the first-time film
director tries to say as much as possible about what war really is and what
it does to people.
Vardan Hovhannisian does not rush in his reflections about the horrors of
war, nor in his investigations of its effects on people. In fact he does not
seem to be a man in a hurry. After all, he waited 15 years to tell the story
of people in the war, or rather those mixed up in the war.
The story begins with a rhetorical question asked by the filmmaker’s son:
"Daddy, have you ever been a soldier?" Triggered by that question, the film
boldly enlighten the viewer about what war really is, the blood and the
sweat, the dirt and the dust, and above all, the fear in the eyes of the
brave volunteers — people, who otherwise couldn’t kill a chicken, but now
have become soldiers defending the land of their fathers.
That the director is exhausted by the memories of war is quite obvious in
the first half of the film, where archival footage of the war is more
abundant. You cannot help but feel a heaviness in the pictures and the
narration of the filmmaker.
A Story of People in War and Peace is a personal journey of the filmmaker,
but one that carries along a few friends from the trenches. The filmmaker is
a main character of this docudrama. A former war journalist who, rejecting
what he considered the abuse of his footage by foreign and international
mass media, decides to chronicle the war as a personal memo. And that’s what
the film has become; notes on the lives of its characters that span 15
years.
Fifteen years is a lifetime. Back there, in the trenches, many of the
characters did not dare to dream that they would tell their stories fifteen
years onward. But here they are, altered by the war, harsh experiences in
peacetime, lost in their years. For them the war is not over; they are
living its devastating experience. The film goes backward and forward in
time introducing one by one the other five characters in war and peace. The
footage in war is all archival, left to gather dust for more than a decade.
They are dusty, foggy, gloomy, all gray and army green and brown. Peace is
brighter at least in the camerawork. There is more light in the air, but it
does not reflect in the eyes of its characters. The film leaps back and
forth, weaving together the chaotic past and the confusing present, wedding
the true sounds of war with the uncomfortable silence of peace.
The thematic structure, blurred at first, becomes clearer in the second
half of the film. In the increasing drama of the arrangements of the
narratives, the skeleton of the film ultimately takes shape. The film
patiently brings its characters to our attention, giving us time to get to
know them, to be partners in their experiences.
A Story of People in War and Peace is crude and powerful at the same time.
This is not a history lesson, but real war, real happenings. That’s why
there is no need for further filmmaking skills.
A longer version of the film will be screened in the Golden Apricot Film
Festival this July, and soon after in the United States for
Armenian-American audiences.
************************************** *************************************
13. Stories of Armenian cinema unveiled: Arachin siro yerke
When it next airs on Armenia TV, "The Making of a Film," the program
documenting the stories behind restored Hyefilm classics, will depict the
behind-the-scene stories of Arachin siro yerke (The song of the first love,
1958).
Arachin siro yerke had two directors, three scenarists, two composers, and
two cinematographers.
Anna Terjanian, host and writer for "The Making of a Film," told the
Armenian Reporter why the film ended up with two directors. Director Yuri
Yerzinkian had completed almost half of the film when Moscow decided the
tape was flawed. As a penalty, a second director, Laert Vagharshian was
signed to go along with Yerzinkian in completing the film. Vagharshian was
one of Yerzinkian’s closest friends, and fortunately their friendship was
not hurt by that penalty. "Both directors worked as a team and Arachin siro
yerke is considered to be the best film of both of them," says Anna.
As the title reveals, songs are an important element of this feature and
their composer, the great Arno Babajanian, had an impact equal to that of
the directors. All the songs of this film belong to the then-almost-unknown
Babajanian, while the original score is that of the composer Lavrenti
Sarian.
Four songs were composed specifically for this film and to this day they
are hits favored by Armenian audiences in Armenia and the diaspora. "Not a
single day passes without one of these songs being broadcast by one of the
Armenian radio channels," Anna says.
A majority of the features filmed in the post–World War II Soviet era
talked about the war, heroism, and patriotism. Then, in the late 1950s,
Soviet cinema and with it the Armenian cinema witnessed a new wave of films
that dared to be about love and daily life. Arachin siro yerke, produced in
1958, is one of the pioneers of this new wave.
The first melodrama of the Armenian cinema, it is about a pop singer
dazzled by success and fame, who gives himself airs and becomes estranged
from his family. Toward the end of the film, he repents and returns to
family life.
It is in Arachin siro yerke that the late acclaimed actor Khoren
Abrahamian started on the road to success. "With this film he became a film
star," Anna says. "The destiny of the hero was almost replicated in the real
life of the actor. Girls went crazy for young Khoren Abrahamian, he received
tons of love letters from young girls who were ready to do anything for him.
But fortunately he didn’t lose his head like his character."
Getting the inside story on Arachin siro yerke was a hard job, "mostly
because no one among the cast and crew members of this film is alive today,
except the sound director," Anna says. Hence most of the interviews for the
program were conducted with the sons and daughters of the production team.
As if to compensate for this shortcoming, there were plenty of archival
materials revealing various episodes of the lives of the directors, lead
actors, and composers. Using all these, "we have tried to reconstruct the
facts and the details of that period." There was another circumstance making
this episode of "The Making of a Film" even more interesting. "During the
production of Arachin siro yerke, director Laert Vagharshian kept a diary of
this film, consisting of nearly 80 pages of notes and reflections." Anna
says. Based on that diary, the production team of "The Making of a Film"
tried to stage and show various episodes of the filming.
It appears that both directors of Arachin siro yerke shared a passion for
writing down their memoirs. The other director had published a memoir, "from
where we dug up a chapter or two of the story of Arachin siro yerke," Anna
says.
The staging of various episodes of the filming process is one of the most
interesting parts of this episode of "The Story of a Film." And to recreate
those moments, the production team "tries to reconstruct the atmosphere of
that period and the set. We borrow the costumes and even the sets from
Hyefilm studio. We try to rebuild the interiors. In this episode we have
staged an episode related to actor Vagharsh Vagharshian, and we filmed it in
the home of the late actor," Anna explains.
Scenes from the restored version of Arachin siro yerke appear in this
story about the film, thus prompting the audience to wait eagerly a few more
minutes and watch the restored and fresh Arachin siro yerke.
"The Story of a Film" premieres on Armenia TV on Monday, May 7, at 1:30
p.m. Eastern time (10:30 a.m. Pacific). It will be followed by a screening
of the restored version of Arachin siro yerke. The pair of programs are
repeated during the week.
******************************************* ********************************
14. Film: Ambiguity and incoherence in Salibian’s Beautiful Armenians
by Alexander Tavitian
In the opening narration to her film Beautiful Armenians, Tamar Salibian
remarks: "These days, it seems, the only choice is to be American or to be
‘the other.’ There is no in-between; but I look for Armenians who, like
myself, live somewhere in the in-between." Ambiguity and incoherence, just
as they are found in this sentence, play definitive roles throughout the
one-hour documentary.
Salibian reportedly set out to make a film about a younger generation of
Armenians and how they deal with issues of identity as a result of living in
the United States. While remnants of this topic retain their presence in the
film, they are made nearly insignificant by the dominant role of Salibian’s
family; a dominance which makes the film not unlike a home video, meandering
from subject to subject and devoid of a clear intent.
While a number of interviews in the film provide us with insight into the
issue of dual identity, none of them could be described as penetrating, and
there are few conclusions to be drawn from them. The interviews are often
marked by levity, as though the interviewees are anxious to get the chore of
helping their friend or relative — Salibian — out of the way.
When not conducting interviews, Salibian sets the camera down to document
protracted conversations between family members. These conversations, which
revolve around a wide range of topics including politics, history, and
language, may claim to depict the worldliness of Armenians living in the
diaspora, but instead translate as Salibian marveling at the intellectuality
of her own family, a private indulgence in which viewers will not always be
able to partake.
Nevertheless, Salibian’s relatives are not without their charm, and it is
particularly those of the older generation who are endearing and provide us
with occasional laughs. Maybe we’d have something here if the film had
focused on them, if they — and only they — had described their feelings
regarding Armenian identity and life in the diaspora, and if Salibian had
told us more about them, her family, rather than a handful of ("beautiful")
Armenians who are expected to define an entire population or an emerging
phenomenon.
* * *
Alexander Tavitian is a sophomore at the University of Southern California
in Los Angeles, majoring in cinema-television production and philosophy. He
is a staff film reviewer for the Daily Trojan, the USC campus newspaper.
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