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GOVERNMENT'S GETTING READY FOR ... 200TH ANNIVERSARY OF GENOCIDE
Sunday notes
If one listened to this government, one would think that their only
concern is the recognition of the genocide. And one sometimes wants
to tell them "good for you that you do not forget about the genocide
amid kickbacks, offshore and retribution with citizens". Good for
you or what the hell ... anyway.
One output of such "care" should be movies which would tell the truth
to the world on the 100th anniversary of the genocide following
the example of Jews. In the 2000s over 50 films were made on the
Holocaust. The Pianist by Roman Polanski, Jakob the Liar by Peter
Kassovitz , The Reader by Stephen Daldry are very touching works
indeed, and Schindler's List by Stephen Spielberg and Life is Beautiful
by Roberto Benini received Oscars and global fame.
In 2011 a state commission has been set up to coordinate the events
to mark the 100th anniversary. The commission includes the presidents
of two Armenian states, two catholicoses, two heads of other Armenian
churches, Arthur Baghdasaryan of the National Security Council, Gagik
Tsarukyan, Raffi Hovannisian, Hranush Hakobyan, Hasmik Poghosyan,
other ministers, two representatives of the ARF, perhaps for the
special role it has, one leader of the other traditional parties each
and no representative of culture. I thought a little and did not find
anything strange about it. There will be events.
I was abroad for the greater part of 2011 where I heard that this
great commission will set up a cinema commission which will include
talented specialists who will write and produce films on the Genocide.
It is not just events, films will be made... I also learned a few
days ago that entries on genocide had been considered for the Golden
Apricot Festival.
Let's first speak about the Golden Apricot because it was its week.
Everything had been well planned. The opening and closing ceremonies
were in the Opera to make sure that the high-ranking officials,
sitting deeply in the red velvet armchairs do not care that the
picture is bad quality, "messages" are read, awards are handed over,
speeches are made which our officials like so much. (It is true
that Aznavour did not get on the stage, either he was tired or he
did not want to take part in this Brezhnevish theater but he will
go away while officials will stay). Every day is a party where the
cinema and pro-cinema people get in touch with the guests. And it
is a real holiday for lovers of real cinema and lovers: entry with
invitations which are easy or hard to get, free or cheap tickets,
meetings with contemporary producers and classics Ulrich Seidl,
Istvan Szabo, Jos Stelling, Margarethe von Trotta.
Now let me come back to the genocide. What has happened? Golden Apricot
received 4-5 applications from Armenian participants of Filmmakers
without Borders packaged in line with international standards and
proposed that the Ministry of Culture attend to them because the
project is small. After a long row of misunderstandings several dozens
of others were brought from Cinema Center and presented to Krzysztof
Zanussi, Atom Egoyan, Arsineh Khanjyan to judge. The ministry did
not explain what will follow evaluation, most entries submitted by
Cinema Center were immature, the participants were unaware of pitching
techniques. Eventually, the guests gave up and stopped the EVENT.
I was amazed, however, not by this hasty and cover-up competition but
Turkey's Vice-Prime Minister Bulent Arinc's statement last year to
shoot a film on 1915 telling the truth while the Armenian ministry
of culture was busy with applications in summer 2013.
I will explain for non-specialists. Two years left to go before 2015
is not sufficient to make a serious film. Six months to one year is
a modest period for writing a historical film. Plus casting, venue,
decorations, costumes ... minus bureaucracy for funding and difficulty
to get co-financing.
In order not to limit myself to criticism I will also make constructive
proposals. First, the abovementioned real or commission-to-be could
have chosen two classic pieces of literature and call for a competition
of best scripts. I would suggest two books, Cursed Years by Yervand
Otyan and I Ask You Ladies and Gentlemen by Leon Zaven Surmelian
which was a bestseller in the United States.
Second, a grant should be envisaged for Armenian and foreign authors
to make sure that one or two good scenarios are made. Then something
similar should be done with companies and directors. A separate
competition should be held for new authors.
Meanwhile, nothing has been done, and nobody knows what the
continuation will be. Will the Italian strike of the government end?
Will a film be made some time between kickbacks, offshore, retribution
against citizens? Will the output be something as miserable as the
film about Garegin Nezhdeh which hides shyly that the hero of the film
saved Syunik from the Russian Red Army? And if it is finally shot,
will audience be ensured by way of distributing tickets at schools
on a voluntary-mandatory basis? And will there be a miracle and they
will not steal the money envisaged for promoting the international
recognition of the Genocide and we sitting in the hall will not
feel ashamed?
Vahram Martirosyan 12:43 15/07/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/comments/view/30461
Sunday notes
If one listened to this government, one would think that their only
concern is the recognition of the genocide. And one sometimes wants
to tell them "good for you that you do not forget about the genocide
amid kickbacks, offshore and retribution with citizens". Good for
you or what the hell ... anyway.
One output of such "care" should be movies which would tell the truth
to the world on the 100th anniversary of the genocide following
the example of Jews. In the 2000s over 50 films were made on the
Holocaust. The Pianist by Roman Polanski, Jakob the Liar by Peter
Kassovitz , The Reader by Stephen Daldry are very touching works
indeed, and Schindler's List by Stephen Spielberg and Life is Beautiful
by Roberto Benini received Oscars and global fame.
In 2011 a state commission has been set up to coordinate the events
to mark the 100th anniversary. The commission includes the presidents
of two Armenian states, two catholicoses, two heads of other Armenian
churches, Arthur Baghdasaryan of the National Security Council, Gagik
Tsarukyan, Raffi Hovannisian, Hranush Hakobyan, Hasmik Poghosyan,
other ministers, two representatives of the ARF, perhaps for the
special role it has, one leader of the other traditional parties each
and no representative of culture. I thought a little and did not find
anything strange about it. There will be events.
I was abroad for the greater part of 2011 where I heard that this
great commission will set up a cinema commission which will include
talented specialists who will write and produce films on the Genocide.
It is not just events, films will be made... I also learned a few
days ago that entries on genocide had been considered for the Golden
Apricot Festival.
Let's first speak about the Golden Apricot because it was its week.
Everything had been well planned. The opening and closing ceremonies
were in the Opera to make sure that the high-ranking officials,
sitting deeply in the red velvet armchairs do not care that the
picture is bad quality, "messages" are read, awards are handed over,
speeches are made which our officials like so much. (It is true
that Aznavour did not get on the stage, either he was tired or he
did not want to take part in this Brezhnevish theater but he will
go away while officials will stay). Every day is a party where the
cinema and pro-cinema people get in touch with the guests. And it
is a real holiday for lovers of real cinema and lovers: entry with
invitations which are easy or hard to get, free or cheap tickets,
meetings with contemporary producers and classics Ulrich Seidl,
Istvan Szabo, Jos Stelling, Margarethe von Trotta.
Now let me come back to the genocide. What has happened? Golden Apricot
received 4-5 applications from Armenian participants of Filmmakers
without Borders packaged in line with international standards and
proposed that the Ministry of Culture attend to them because the
project is small. After a long row of misunderstandings several dozens
of others were brought from Cinema Center and presented to Krzysztof
Zanussi, Atom Egoyan, Arsineh Khanjyan to judge. The ministry did
not explain what will follow evaluation, most entries submitted by
Cinema Center were immature, the participants were unaware of pitching
techniques. Eventually, the guests gave up and stopped the EVENT.
I was amazed, however, not by this hasty and cover-up competition but
Turkey's Vice-Prime Minister Bulent Arinc's statement last year to
shoot a film on 1915 telling the truth while the Armenian ministry
of culture was busy with applications in summer 2013.
I will explain for non-specialists. Two years left to go before 2015
is not sufficient to make a serious film. Six months to one year is
a modest period for writing a historical film. Plus casting, venue,
decorations, costumes ... minus bureaucracy for funding and difficulty
to get co-financing.
In order not to limit myself to criticism I will also make constructive
proposals. First, the abovementioned real or commission-to-be could
have chosen two classic pieces of literature and call for a competition
of best scripts. I would suggest two books, Cursed Years by Yervand
Otyan and I Ask You Ladies and Gentlemen by Leon Zaven Surmelian
which was a bestseller in the United States.
Second, a grant should be envisaged for Armenian and foreign authors
to make sure that one or two good scenarios are made. Then something
similar should be done with companies and directors. A separate
competition should be held for new authors.
Meanwhile, nothing has been done, and nobody knows what the
continuation will be. Will the Italian strike of the government end?
Will a film be made some time between kickbacks, offshore, retribution
against citizens? Will the output be something as miserable as the
film about Garegin Nezhdeh which hides shyly that the hero of the film
saved Syunik from the Russian Red Army? And if it is finally shot,
will audience be ensured by way of distributing tickets at schools
on a voluntary-mandatory basis? And will there be a miracle and they
will not steal the money envisaged for promoting the international
recognition of the Genocide and we sitting in the hall will not
feel ashamed?
Vahram Martirosyan 12:43 15/07/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/comments/view/30461