OSKANA SUCCESSFULLY BREAKS INTO ARMENIA CINEMA WITH “140 DRAMS”
Marine Madatyan
13:39, March 12, 2013
In a cafe, Oksana laughed and confessed that her Armenian wasn’t
sufficient even to order something to eat.
She’s been in Armenia for two years, but she’s been too busy to learn
Armenians. Rather than getting used to life in Armenia, she says she’s
tried to understand it. As a result, she’s felt that she belongs here.
Oksana Mirzoyan was born in Baku. Her father hails from Baku and her
mother from the village of Karahounj in Syunik. During the Sumgait
pogroms the family immigrated to the United States, settling in
Detroit. That’s where she spent 23 years of her life.
“You know, I feel at home all over. I get acclimated quickly. That’s
probably because I move around so much. But I have often thought what
the word homeland means. I love living in Armenia, because here I have
met people with whom I can discuss issues that interest me. That’s
to say, for me the homeland isn’t mountains. What keeps me here are
the people I feel connected to,” she says.
Oksana says that in the beginning, many of her relatives would question
her in a negative way as to why she came to Armenia.
Why did this actor in an American thriller decide to come to Armenia?
Oksana made her way to Armenia on her own. She learnt about the
organization Birthright Armenia in 2011. It facilitates young
diaspora Armenians to visit and even live in Armenia. Those who come
do voluntary work. She decided to apply and uncover the place where
her roots lie.
Before talking to Oksana, I had watched snippets of the American
thriller film The Death of Michael Smith. In the film, Oksana plays
the part of Miss Warren. In 2007, the film won the Slamdance Film
Festival’s Emerging Directors and Actors Award.
During her first months in Armenia, Oksana did voluntary work at
the Bars Media documentary centre. She says that’s where she first
seriously started to think about making films.
“140 Drams” – Little Edo steals a carton of milk
He second voluntary posting was at COAF (The Children of Armenian
Fund). She conducted photography lessons for kids in the village
of Myasnikyan (Armavir). During her work there, she decided what
screenplay her future film would have.
Little Edo goes to the store for the first time. He has to buy milk
for his sister. His mother gives him the last 140 Drams in the house.
It turns out that 140 drams isn’t enough. The price of milk has gone
up. He stands by the milk display and while the clerk isn’t watching he
grabs a carton and hides it under his short. He places the 140 Drams
on the counter and runs home. He tells nothing to his mother about
the theft. In the evening, he doesn’t come out to play in the yard.
Oksana wrote the screen play for the film “140 drams” and directed it.
She says that once the screenplay was finished she went to the online
website Kickstarter – a funding platform for creative projects. Via
the site, Oksana raised $7000 to begin the filming.
Filming was done in the Yerevan district of Shengavit. The actors
and film crew are Armenians. Final editing took place in the U.S.
Oksana relates that the screenplay for the 15 minute film was conceived
while working with the kids in Myasnikyan. She says the children real
felt the environment in which they were living.
In the film, Edo suddenly grows up after the theft and decides to
no longer play games with the other kids. Oksana says his mature
demeanour is natural. She says that while she was teaching the children
photography, she didn’t want to teach them the techniques but rather
to see what a child’s eyes see in that world in which they live. She
says they are able to “comprehend their social situation.”
Edo is just a kid, but he knows that something has happened. He feels
bad and confused. “I don’t want to portray just how poor that family
is, but rather I wanted to show a middle-class Armenian who can fall
at any moment but survives,” Oksana says.
140 Drams won a prize at the 2012 Arpa Film Festival in Los Angeles.
That year, it won Honorable Mention at the 7th annual Nour Film
Festival in Toronto.
Praise from Atom Egoyan
Atom Egoyan chose the film for entry in the 27th Festival International
de Films de Fribourg (Switzerland, March 16-23), in the category
“Diaspora: Atom Egoyan and Armenia”. There are four films vying in
this category – Egoyan’s “Ararat”, Paradjanov’s “Sayat Nova”, Robert
Godikyan’s “Journey to Armenia”, and Oksana’s “140 Drams”.
140 Drams will not be show publicly until after the festival. What
follows is a trailer.
On the FIFF website, Atom Egoyan writes: “I’m aware that I have
included two of my own films, and that none of the others were made
by an Armenian living in Armenia. That is why I want you to discover
this short feature by a young filmmaker, shot in Yerevan, which I
find very promising. By scheduling it before Calendar, I’m trying to
show the hope kindled by the new generation of Armenian filmmakers.”
Oksana is now cooperating with the One Armenia NGO to make other films.
“I don’t understand when they try to make films along Hollywood
standards here. There are people here that photograph truly original
stuff, but I don’t like it when they try to copy the West,” says
Oksana.
She says that the Armenian cinema has everything needed to make it
stand out internationally – there are very talented professionals,
the necessary equipment and all types of natural landscapes.
Directors in Armenia enjoy another advantage, Oksana believes. Making
a film in Armenia is incomparably cheaper than, say, in the States.