Egoyan's Ararat Approved For Release In Turkey

[vava]

Egoyan film cut for Turkish release

Last Updated Wed, 31 Dec 2003

 

CBC News Online

 

 

ISTANBUL - Atom Egoyan's latest film, Ararat, will be shown in Turkey with one scene cut.

 

That's the word from the country's Culture Ministry.

 

The movie tells the story of Armenians living in Ottoman Turkey. According to those in the Armenian community, Turkey forced their ancestors from the eastern part of the country in 1915-23, leaving 1.5 million people dead.

 

Turkey says that number is inflated and denies it attempted genocide. It says Armenians died during civil unrest, not as the result of an orchestrated campaign.

 

Egoyan, who is based in Toronto, is of Armenian descent. His filmography includes The Sweet Hereafter and Exotica.

 

Turkish officials approved the movie for release last week, but excised one scene showing Ottomans raping Armenian women. It will land in theatres in January.

 

Istemihan Talay, Turkey's former culture minister, called the film, which was shown at Cannes last year, "propaganda."

 

But Turkey's new government, which assumed power last year, has pledged to broaden freedom for artists as part of its bid to join the European Union.

 

source

[Sasun]

That's good news, even with the cutting, to raise their awareness. I wonder how widely it will be shown.

[angel4hope]

wow that seems like one step closer to ur initial goal- but yet again, we still dont have the support of our village idiot-goerge bush here--hopefully in the years to come, one of our future presidents will support the fact that the genocide occured......

[DominO123]

Oh sure! They will be showing the movie and than they will be presenting documentaries to ridicule it and use it as arms to brainwash the people further.

[bellthecat]

Istemihan Talay, Turkey's former culture minister, called the film, which was shown at Cannes last year, "propaganda."

That's giving the film more credit than it deserves! Propaganda is generally better made than Ararat.

[gamavor]

Steve, you sound like CEO of BP. Well, Ararat is not a movie about the Genocide, rather about the denial. Lets hope that Hollywood will produce some Epic (American style) for the genocide that will appeal to the masses of clueless and brainless westerners. Yeah, we are superior because we are Armenians. Screw you all!!!

[DominO123]

Steve, you sound like CEO of BP. Well, Ararat is not a movie about the Genocide, rather about the denial. Lets hope that Hollywood will produce some Epic (American style) for the genocide that will appeal to the masses of clueless and brainless westerners. Yeah, we are superior because we are Armenians. Screw you all!!!

I am waiting the phone call asking me to produce that film.

[America-Hye]

Hey Domino,

 

How come someone as INTELLIGENT as you is so MYOPIC as to what is happening?? The Turks are in a REAL predicament. They KNOW that this issue is one of two or three that will keep them out of the EU. They DERPERATELY want to get into the EU for economic reasons. Why can they not ignore this issue as they have for decades? It is because the tsunami is coming their way.The showing of Ararat is like a homeopathic medication. They will give this to common Turks in small doses, so that when the "big one" hits the common Turk will already be immune. The Turkish leaders are covering their asses lest they lose their credibility with the populace. The geo-political situation has changed. They NEED Armenia and the Armenians to improve their commerce to the East. They are opening the door ever so slightly, but as a face covering are decrying it as propaganda. They could have continued to ignore it had the circumstances not changed.

[DominO123]

Hagarag, I will answer you the minute I understand what you are talking about.

[America-Hye]

Domino, STOP playing with me! You understand EXACTLY what I am stating. Do you think that you are dealing with an unaware child??

[DominO123]

Domino, STOP playing with me! You understand EXACTLY what I am stating. Do you think that you are dealing with an unaware child??

For your own sake, I think I won't answer to your last question.

[Haytorontonian]

Guyz, stop fighting. Once again, they changed their minds, Ararat is not showing as scheduled.

[Dan]

That's giving the film more credit than it deserves! Propaganda is generally better made than Ararat.

haha, well said... and here i was, expecting something "good" from egoyan.. what a shame... *sigh* he couldn't even make a movie that treated at least one theme decently... Ararat is NOT the movie that represents the suffering of my ancestors. it's a movie that represents nothing, actually. what was i thinking when i expected something like Schindler's List from him.. oh well. No wonder it didn't make it to more than one movie theatre here in Toronto. Enough said, I guess. I'm not usually this harsh on people, but I must say that Ararat did NOT represent what I and many Armenians hoped to see, and it definitely did not represent one cm of what those who were massacred by the Turks went through...

[Sasun]

Guyz, stop fighting.  Once again, they changed their minds, Ararat is not showing as scheduled.

Really? Now that I think it did sound too good to be true although I thought they would show in limited places only.

[Dan]

has the decision been reversed or what?????!!

[America-Hye]

Haytorontonian,

 

Please post the article which states that they will not be showing "Ararat" in Turkey.

[Haytorontonian]

Here is the link and no they don't have it in English.

 

 

 

www.bolsohays.com

 

 

Ararat icin erteleme cikti - (Postponement for Ararat)

 

 

Ararat filminin gosterimi ithalatci firma tarafindan ertelendi. Karara ulkuculerin neden oldugu ileri suruldu

 

Yonetmen Atom Egoyan in Ermeni soykirimi iddialarina yer verdigi ve 16 Ocak tarihinde vizyona girmesi beklenen Ararat filminin gosterimi ithalatci firma tarafindan belirsiz bir sure ertelendi. Karara ulkuculerin tepkisinin neden oldugu ileri suruldu.

 

Film Degerlendirme ve Denetleme Komisyonu Ararat in gosterimine filmin "Abartili sinema diliyle Ermeni tarih tezlerini savundugu ve Osmanli askerlerini kucultucu sahnelerin bulundugu" kisimlarin kesilmesi sartiyla izin vermisti. Izin kararinin cikmasi uzerine Ulku Ocaklari Genel Merkezi gecen pazar gunu yazili bir aciklamayla AKP iktidarini Turk dusmani Ermeni lobilerini cesaretlendirmekle suclamisti. Aciklamada Turizm ve Kultur Bakani Erkan Mumcu da "Ararat filmini Turkiye de yayinlama

ihanetine ilk imzayi atan yetkili" olmakla suclanmisti. Aciklamanin sonunda ise "Turk e dusmanligin bedeli oldugu unutulmamali" denildi

 

 

 

 

Kaynak : Radikal (Newspaper published in Turkey)

[Dan]

i don't know turkish.. maybe i should get my gramma to read it and translate it ..

[gurgen]

What's so bad about Ararat Dan?

[Dan]

let's just say everything.....

[America-Hye]

For the Turks to claim that they are a democracy is a JOKE. Yes,they have cancelled the showing of Ararat. To hell with them. Other nations are coming to terms with the Genocide. We should step up our efforts to isolate them from the reat of the world.

[Nakharar]

Ararat was a big disappointment in my opinion. Such a boring and tedious film. Egoyan shouldn't have attempted it in the first place. And we shouldn't have put so much hope on that film. The thing we need is a well-done straight narrative on the Armenian genocide, but which isn't overly melodramatic and preachy. I don't think showing Ararat in Turkey will have the effect most Armenians hope for. It would probably have the opposite effect and bore them to death. And it won't generate any sympathy to say the least. With all those American blockbusters who would even go and watch that movie?

[THOTH]

Nakharar -

 

I don't disagree with you that Ararat is probably not the best film to poresent the Armenian Genocide to Turks - and in fact it is not at all the type of film that you and other Armenias are wishing for - and it certainly has its flaws (most I think recognized by Egoyan - and out of necessity) - but in fact it is a masterful film. I fear that you and others lack the depth of understanding to appreciate it on the very many levels as it was intended. It is an intellectual and artistic movie (also with a tremendous amount of heart)...for a supposedly intellectual and artistic people. I know that the film moves me greatly - and I have also shown it to several non-Armenians who I think pretty much got the point of it - and appreciated it as well - and it certainly caused them to ask some questions - and isn't that what we want from such a film? (of course one - though certainly an abberation - concluded that the Turks were right to Genocide the Armenians - [just as the Germans were the Jews] - becuase we didn't fit in...etc LOL - oh well - can't satisfy everyone - eh?

 

As for Turkey's decision...well I'm not at all surprised...I mean their rebuttle film is perhaps years away..perhaps we should give them a chance to hang themselves on this one...LOL

Edited January 7, 2004 by THOTH

[Dan]

Toronto Star

Jan 6 2004

 

Turkish extremists pull plug on Ararat screenings

Many there still deny film's genocide theme

 

Unspecified threats made on Web site

 

PETER HOWELL

MOVIE CRITIC

 

Terrorist-style threats in Turkey are preventing people there from seeing Atom Egoyan's Ararat and learning the truth about the country's violent past, the Armenian National Committee of Canada says.

 

Egoyan's film, which premiered at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival and later opened the Toronto International Film Festival, examines the history and cultural impact of the 1915-23 genocide of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians by Turks of the Ottoman Empire.

 

Turkey has long denied the genocide, and mention isn't made of it in Turkish school textbooks. Extremists in the country violently oppose any discussion of the mass deportation, starvation and torture of Armenians, which began during World War I.

 

Despite this history of official denial, Ararat was scheduled to finally open Jan. 16 in the major Turkish cities of Ankara and Istanbul, as part of a democratization campaign by the Turkish government, the AKP Islamist Party. Erkan Mumcu, the minister of culture, permitted the screenings.

 

But extremist allies of the Turkish military establishment and the national intelligence service, two groups that have long opposed freedom of speech, have effectively overturned the government's pro-Ararat stance by threatening the film's Turkish distributor.

 

"The people who dare to show the movie ... should not forget that there is a price for enmity towards the Turks," says a press release on the Web site for Ulku Ocaklari, a far right national party allied with the Grey Wolves, a paramilitary group with close ties to the Turkish military and intelligence sectors.

 

"We call on the AKP government, Minister Erkan Mumcu and the film distributing company to take our warning seriously and make the right

decision."

 

The group doesn't specify the consequences for anyone screening or even viewing Ararat in Turkey, but a column on the same Web site

warns that "whoever wants to destroy the unity of this nation and the will of our existence should be ready to pay the price."

 

Aris Babikian, a Toronto spokesman for the Armenian group, said last

night the Turkish distributor of Ararat has bowed to the intimidation

and decided not to show the film. The reaction isn't surprising,

Babikian said, given the history of violence in Turkey against people

who challenge the extremists, who still hold influence over the country.

 

"Turkey is searching for its soul," he said. "There are some elements

who don't like what's happening in Turkey: the democratizing of human

rights, freedom of speech and freedom of the press. They don't want

the healthy discussion and dialogue a film like Ararat would bring."

 

Babikian said the Armenian National Committee of Canada is calling on

democratic governments and media to fight the muzzling of Ararat. The

failure of the pro-democracy movement could cost the country entry

into the European Economic Community.

 

"The only thing we can do is ask the international community to join

us in protesting this. Freedom-loving people and the press should help us make an issue out of this, by forcing these people to allow the government to continue on its path to democratizing Turkey."

 

Egoyan was unavailable for comment.

[Haytorontonian]

Here is another version of the cancellation - National Post - Toronto, Canada

 

 

 

Extremist threats stall Egoyan film

Turks postpone movie on genocide

 

Mary Vallis

National Post

 

 

Wednesday, January 07, 2004

 

 

 

 

 

Atom Egoyan's film about the Armenian genocide may never be shown in Turkey because of threats from an extremist group that is warning the government to reverse its decision to allow the release of the controversial movie.

 

The pressure has prompted Belge Film, the company that is distributing Ararat in Turkey, to postpone the film's Jan. 16 release. If opposition continues to grow, the release may be cancelled altogether, said Aysegul Cetin, the company's general manager.

 

"We'd like to make the film released in Turkey," she said in an interview from Istanbul yesterday. "But if the protests become more serious and dangerous and the reaction gets bigger, then we have to maybe stop the release."

 

Mr. Egoyan, a Canadian of Armenian descent, said the postponement is not surprising.

 

"I think that it's unfortunate," he told the National Post. "I would hope that they're able to go ahead and show the film at some point, preferably in its complete form and without cuts, but even that's looking unlikely, I suppose."

 

The controversy has captured headlines in Turkish newspapers and brought the issue of freedom of expression to the fore. The threats are coming from Ulku Ocaklari, a right-wing nationalist organization, which is distributing crude posters that depict the governing party and the filmmakers as the country's enemies. They have appeared in newspapers and been plastered along streets in Istanbul.

 

Ararat has been contentious since its 2002 release. It examines the lingering effects of the Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey during and following the First World War, an atrocity some in the Turkish community continue to deny. About 1.5 million Armenians were massacred by Turks between 1915 and 1923.

 

The Turkish government has denied there was a genocide, arguing the Armenians died during a period of civil unrest and not as the result of an organized campaign.

 

Turkish extremists adamantly oppose discussion of the issue.

 

Ararat tells the story of an Armenian director trying to make a film about the genocide.

 

Jumping back and forth between 1915 and present-day Toronto, the film contains graphic re-creations of the horror and weaves together the plights of individuals searching for truth in a personal and historical context. It won five of its nine Genie Award nominations in February, including best picture. Mr. Egoyan's wife, Arsinee Khanjian, was also named best actress for her portrayal of an art historian who advises on the film-within-the-film.

 

Mr. Egoyan said the latest postponement is particularly dispiriting because Ararat's premiere was supposed to convey an emerging spirit of openness in Turkish society. Before the country's new moderate Islamist government took power in November, 2002, he said, the government essentially treated him as an enemy of the state.

 

The Justice & Development Party (AKP) recently announced it was taking steps to expand freedom of expression as part of the country's bid to join the European Union.

 

In late December, Ankara announced a culture ministry commission had deemed Ararat suitable for viewing. Erkan Mumcu, the Culture & Tourism Minister, said Turkey "can easily tolerate such things." At least one rape scene, however, will be censored.

 

"If some people are curious, they can go and see it," he recently told reporters. He added, however, his information suggested, "it is a film which is very much didactic and can even be described as ridiculous propaganda."

 

Ulku Ocaklari vehemently opposes the minister's decision to allow Turks to see the film. Its posters show a blue X over a piece of artwork advertising Ararat. Above it is the acronym for the AKP and a phrase that translates as "It will never happen."

 

"The people who dare to show the movie ... should not forget that there is a price for enmity toward the Turks," the group said in a news release issued in late December. "We call on the AKP government, Minister Erkan Mumcu and the film distributing company to take our warning seriously and make the right decision."

 

Ms. Cetin said the extremist group's anger is primarily focused on the AKP, not the film. She suggested Ulku Ocaklari is using Ararat's release as a way of mobilizing Turks against the government.

 

The film's trailer has been playing for a month in Ankara, and there has been no opposition, she added.

 

She is optimistic Belge Film will be able to release Ararat by the end of January, if it can establish contact with Ulku Ocaklari and quell the group's opposition.

 

A group defending Mr. Egoyan in Canada argues Turkey must acknowledge its history if it wants to join the ranks of civilized nations. "Talking about the Armenian genocide, it's tantamount to treason in Turkey," said Aris Babikian, a spokesman for the Armenian National Committee of Canada.

 

"Showing the film will give the public an opening to start discussing this issue in a more honest, direct way."

 

mvallis@nationalpost.com

 

© National Post 2004