Category: News

Barbecue: A film shot in Armenia and 11 other countries

Emil Lazarian

A chance encounter in Texas led two Adelaide filmmakers into an adventure of a lifetime as they catalogued the one thing that links almost every culture in the world: barbecue, according to the

“The day we turned up in the Philippines, the airline had lost all our cameras,” says Matthew Salleh, one half of Urtext Films along with Rose Tucker. “So, for a week, the cameras were lost until we found them in a shed full of live chickens and fruit at the airport. You have to be pretty versatile when you’re flying around filming like that.”

Salleh is talking about just one of the dozen stops made on their epic documentary feature, Barbecue. Visiting 12 countries over nine months, Tucker and Salleh delved deep into the world’s myriad barbecue cultures to produce their diverse, humorous and inspiring documentary about the bonds forged between people over meat and fire.

“Everyone thinks that their barbecue is the best,” Tucker says. “Everywhere you go, their barbecue is the best. There’s no arguing.”

Tucker and Salleh are bursting with stories from their carnivorous odyssey. One quirky tale comes from one of the first countries selected to visit, and perhaps most surprising from the Australian perspective: Armenia.

“We were picking what countries we were going to go to, and we saw this video of this old man talking about Armenian barbecue, saying things like ‘Armenian barbecue is best barbecue’,” Salleh says. “His daughter had posted it online and gotten five million views or whatever. We thought it was hilarious. We just messaged them, his daughter lived in Melbourne. We skyped him and he arranged a room for us in Armenia.

Counting on her fingers, Tucker tells The Adelaide Review the places they visited. “We did, in order, Sweden, The Philippines, Mongolia, then South Africa, Armenia, a refugee camp on the border of Syria and Jordan, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, and then finished it off this year with Uruguay, Mexico and went back to Texas.”

Brussels Airlines to launch Armenia service

Yeghisabet Arthur

Brussels Airlines will launch flights to Armenia from March 31st next year, according to Business Traveller.

The new route will be served by an Airbus A320, flying from Brussels airport to the capital city Yerevan once a week, with a second flight to operate in July and August.

Between December and March, Brussels Airlines will launch charter flights between Brussels to Yerevan as part of a partnership with Belgian-Armenian tour operator Armwings.

The flights will depart from Brussels airport in the evening on Friday, with the summer service departing on Tuesday. The return flight will leave Yerevan’s Zvartnots airport on Saturday morning, with the summer service departing on Wednesday.

The schedule will allow connections to destinations in France, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Scandinavia, Spain, Italy, the UK, US and Canada. Bookings can be made from mid October.

Armen Amiryan appointed as Minister of Culture

Nahapetian Samvel

President Serzh Sargsyan signed a decree today, appointing Armen Amiryan – long-time Executive Director of Public Radio of Armenia – as Minister of Culture.

According to an earlier presidential decree, Armen Amiryan was relieved of the duties of the Member of the Council of Public Television and Radio Company of Armenia.

Russia has started delivery of weapons to Armenia under $200 mln loan agreement

Jagharian Tania

Russia has started the delivery of weapons to Armenia under the $200 mln agreement, Russia’s Ambassador to Armenia Ivan Volynkin said in an interview with  Radio Liberty.

The Ambassador also commented on the sale of Iskander ballistic missile system, noting that the fact is a testament to the allied nature of the Armenian-Russian relations.

According to Amb. Volynkin, the sale of the Iskander means that “the relations between Armenia and Russia are allied and friendly.”

As for the $200 mln loan agreement, the Ambassador said it’s in the process of implementation. “It is being implemented according to the plan, the delivery has already started,” Ivan Volynkin said.

Edward Nalbandian delivers lecture at Baker Institute

Karakhanian Suren

On September 26, in Houston, Edward Nalbandian, the Acting Foreign Minister of Armenia, visited the Rice University’s James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, where he delivered a lecture on the challenges in the South Caucasus.

The meeting, attended by leading experts and scientists, representatives of business sector, heads of diplomatic missions accredited in Houston, was chaired by Ambassador Edward P. Djerejian, the Founding Director of the Institute and renowned US diplomat.

In his remarks Edward Nalbandian presented the Armenia’s path during the 25 years of independence, the foreign policy priorities of Armenia, its stance on regional issues and ways to resolve them.

The Acting Foreign Minister of Armenia briefed in details on the current stage of settlement process of the Nagorno-Karabakh issues, presented the agreements reached during the Vienna and St. Petersburg meetings and Azerbaijan’s destructive efforts to backtrack from the implementation of the results of those meetings.

The Acting Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian spoke about Armenia’s initiative role in the international arena aimed at preventing the crime of genocide, Armenia’s involvement in different international institutions, its participation in peacekeeping operation in different countries under the UN mandate, Armenia’s cooperation with a number of international organizations, as well as he touched upon the consequences of the Syrian crisis, migration flows and situation in the Middle East.

At the end of the lecture Edward Nalbandian answered numerous questions of the attendees.