Movie About Armenian Genocide By Italian Directors

[Maral]

 

This is info. about a new movie by the Italian directors - the Taviani

brothers - that will be presented at the Berlin Film Festival on

February 14. It will be on the big screen in Europe on May 4. It is a movie

about the Armenian genocide and is based on the book "La Masseria Delle

Allodole" by the Italo-Armenian writer Antonia Arslan who won the

Campiello prize in Italy for it in 2004. She based the book on her family

memories. The title of the movie is also "La Masseria Delle Allodole".

The movie is in Italian with English subtitles. The actors are Italian,

French, Spanish (Angela Molina and Paz Vega), Turkish and the Armenian

Arsinee Khanjian. The production is Italian, French and Spanish.

 

The Taviani brothers are directors considered to be of the scale of

Fellini and are artists of his generation. They won Palma d'Oro at the

Cannes Festival before. For this movie they were asked to go and present

it at the Cannes film Festival, but they opted to present it at the

Berlin Festival insted, in order to sensitize other European countries

other than France, and also because of the high presence of Turkish people

in Germany.

 

It is the story of Yervant and Sempad, two Armenian brothers from

Anatolia. Yervant at the young age of 13 decides to leave his family to go

to Italy to study at the Italo-Armenian college of Venice and to go to

the university of medicine in Padova. Sempad, instead, stays in Anatolia

to work in a pharmacy store. At the age of 40, Yervant finally plans a

visit to his brother in Anatolia where Sempad is

 

preparing to celebrate his arrival. It is 1915, and things will go

differently from plans. The movie at this point concentrates on the shift

from celebration to disaster as the

Turkish violence against the Armenian population begins in Yervant's

and

Semapad's little family village. Yervant will never make it back there.

 

Movie critics in Europe say that this Italian movie by Taviani will

strongly upset the present Turkish government of Erdogan, especially now

with the debates going on in Italy and other countries over having

Turkey in UE. Movie critics also say that "La Masseria Delle Allodole",

because of its vivid story, will make more noise in Europe than the other

two movies on the Armenian genocide, "Ararat" by Egoyan and "Le Voyage

in Armenie" by Robert Guediguian. It will be also different from the

documentary "Screamers".

 

Taviani brothers said in an interview that they don't want to

be judgmental with this movie, but they think that Turkish people need to face

history and "fare i conti" with it (admit it happened), like the Italian

people admitted the brutality of fascism a long time ago.

 

Nice to see one more movie coming out and another perspective on the

subject...

 

<http://rcslibri.corriere.it/rizzoli/popup/aprile04/1700144.htm>http://rcslibri.corriere.it/rizzoli/popup/aprile04/1700144.htm

[Takoush]

Thanks for letting us know this good news Maral.

 

I hope soon after the film comes out, they'll also bring it in here with English subtitles so we'll also be able to view it.

[Error 404]

Here is a small clip from the movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1av5P4FB8I

[Zartonk]

WOW, the visual impression is stunning. Looks excellent (but shouldn't have watched it early in the morning).

[gamavor]

Nice! I've heard the movie already has "problems" in Eurturkia.