 Logo | |
| Abbreviation | AFS |
|---|---|
| Formation | 2015 |
| Type | Film society |
| Purpose | Entertainment, film movement, film screening |
| Location | |
Region served | United Kingdom United States |
| Leader | Armen and Mary Karaoghlanian |
| Website | armenianfilmsociety.com |
The Armenian Film Society (AFS) is an American film society dedicated to Armenian cinema.
The organization launched in 2015 with a screening of Atom Egoyan's Next of Kin . [1]
Early film screenings included Sergei Parajanov's Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors [2] and The Legend of Suram Fortress [3]
In September 2019, the Armenian Film Society first announced the news that Armenian-American screenwriter Mardik Martin had passed away. [4] In February 2020, the organization criticized the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the failure to include Martin in the In Memoriam segment during the 92nd Academy Awards. [5]
In 2023, the centennial of the Armenian film industry, Armenian Film Society launched its Armenian Film Festival. [6]
In celebration of Sergei Parajanov's centennial, the organization partnered with the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures to screen The Color of Pomegranates , as well as the world premiere of the restoration of Mikhail Vartanov's Parajanov: The Last Spring . [7] In an interview with Deadline Hollywood, Martiros Vartanov, the director's son, stated, "I'm very grateful to The Academy and UCLA for presenting this." [8]
In April 2024, Armenian Film Society held a screening of Inna Sahakyan's Aurora's Sunrise as part of University of Southern California's Armenian History Month programming. [9] Later that month, as part of the City of Glendale's 2024 Armenian Genocide Week of Remembrance, the organization held a screening of Arman Nshanian's Songs of Solomon . [10]
The Armenian Film Society participated in the 2024 HollyShorts Film Festival, held at the Chinese Theatre, by presenting four short films. [11]
In June 2024, the organization collaborated with American Cinematheque to host a screening of Menace II Society at the Egyptian Theatre, including a discussion with director Allen Hughes. [12]
In July 2024, Armenian Film Society supported the "100 Years of Parajanov" programming at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York City. [13]
The organization partnered with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, sponsoring their Igor Stravinsky and Aram Khachaturian program in July 2024. [14]
In October 2024, the Armenian Film Society announced their expansion into the United Kingdom with the creation of a branch in London. The branch will be spearheaded by curator Kira Adibekov and filmmaker Tatevik Ayvazyan. [15]
The Armenian Film Society's "flagship events" are the annual Armenian Film Festival and Armenian Women in Film and Entertainment panel discussions. [16]
In 2023, the centennial of the Armenian film industry, [17] the organization launched its Armenian Film Festival, with events held at Alex Theatre, Laemmle Glendale and Hero House. The festival included a premiere of Michael A. Goorjian's Amerikatsi . [18] At the festival, co-founder Armen Karaoghlanian stated, "Hopefully [audiences] can walk away with a better understanding of who Armenians are because they might hear about the struggles we are going through, [but] I can’t think of a better way to really understand the [Armenian] people than through film." [19]
The 2024 festival, held at LOOK Cinemas, featured the American premiere of Atom Egoyan's Seven Veils . [20] In an interview at the event, co-founder Armen Karaoghlanian reflected on the growth of Armenian cinema, noting that "It wasn't too long ago when, you know, you'd say 'Armenian film' or 'Armenian cinema', and you might think of a certain type of film. You know, maybe, you'd think of Soviet Armenian films, maybe you'd think of some of the stuff you'd find on T.V., but I think in recent years, and especially this year, that bar is getting much higher, year over year, and I want people to walk away not saying 'I saw a good Armenian film' or a great Armenian film, I want to say 'I saw a great film,' period." [21]
In 2023, the organization held its first Armenian Women in Film and Entertainment panel discussion, featuring film and television editor Yvette M. Amirian, media personality Sona Movsesian, producer Fuliane Petikyan, actress Angela Sarafyan, and producer Natalie Qasabian. [22]
The 2024 event was moderated by Sona Movsesian, featuring concept artist Joanna Bush, business manager Anna DerParseghian, actress Alexandra Hedison, and film publicist Teni Karapetian. [23]
William Saroyan was an Armenian-American novelist, playwright, and short story writer. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940, and in 1943 won the Academy Award for Best Story for the film The Human Comedy. When the studio rejected his original 240-page treatment, he turned it into a novel, The Human Comedy.
Jean Vigo was a French film director who helped establish poetic realism in film in the 1930s. His work influenced French New Wave cinema of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Sergei Iosifovich Parajanov was a Soviet film director and screenwriter. He is regarded by film critics, film historians, and filmmakers to be one of the greatest filmmakers of all time.
Artavazd Peleshyan is an Armenian director of essay films, a documentarian in the history of film art, a screenwriter, and a film theorist. He is renowned for developing a style of cinematographic perspective known as distance montage, combining perception of depth with oncoming entities, such as running packs of antelope or hordes of humans. Filmmaker Sergei Parajanov has referred to Peleshyan as "one of the few authentic geniuses in the world of cinema". Peleshyan was awarded the title of Merited Artist of the Armenian SSR in 1979, and Merited Artist of the Russian Federation in 1995.
The Color of Pomegranates, originally known as Sayat-Nova, is a 1969 Soviet Armenian art film written and directed by Sergei Parajanov. The film is a poetic treatment of the life of 18th-century Armenian poet and troubadour Sayat-Nova. The film is now regarded as a landmark in film history, and was met with widespread acclaim among filmmakers and critics. It is often considered one of the greatest films ever made.
Mikhail Vartanov was a Soviet filmmaker and cinematographer who made significant contribution to world cinema with the documentary films Parajanov: The Last Spring and Seasons.
The culture of Armenia encompasses many elements that are based on the geography, literature, architecture, dance, and music of the Armenian people. Armenia is a majority Christian country in the Caucasus.
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, alternatively translated into English as Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors or Shadows of Our Ancestors, also known in English under the alternative title Wild Horses of Fire and under the mistaken title of In the Shadow of the Past, is a 1965 Soviet-era Ukrainian film by the filmmaker Sergei Parajanov based on the 1911 novel Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors by Ukrainian writer Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky that tells a "Romeo and Juliet tale" of young Ukrainian Hutsul lovers trapped on opposite sides of a Carpathian family blood feud.
The cinema of Armenia was established on 16 April 1923, when the Armenian State Committee of Cinema was established by government decree. The National Cinema Center of Armenia (NCAA), founded in 2006, is the governing body of film and cinema in Armenia. The NCAA preserves, promotes and develops Armenian cinematography and provides state financial support to full-length feature, short and animation projects. The Director of the NCCA is Shushanik Mirzakhanyan, and the headquarters are located in Yerevan.
Ashik Kerib, sometimes known internationally as The Lovelorn Minstrel, is a 1988 Soviet art film directed by Dodo Abashidze from Georgia and Sergei Parajanov from Armenia that is based on the short story of the same name by Mikhail Lermontov. It was Parajanov's last completed film and was dedicated to his close friend Andrei Tarkovsky, who had died two years previously. The film also features a detailed portrayal of Azerbaijani culture.
Parajanov: The Last Spring is a 1992 award-winning documentary by the Russian-Armenian filmmaker Mikhail Vartanov, that also includes the complete surviving footage of Sergei Parajanov's unfinished last film The Confession, Vartanov's behind-the-scenes sequences of Parajanov at work on the shooting of the Color of Pomegranates and other material. Featured in 7th Annual Russian Academy of Cinema Arts Awards (1993).
The Golden ApricotYerevan International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Yerevan, Armenia. The festival was founded in 2004 with the co-operation of the "Golden Apricot" Fund for Cinema Development, the Armenian Association of Film Critics and Cinema Journalists. The GAIFF is continually supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, the Ministry of Culture of Armenia and the Benevolent Fund for Cultural Development.The objectives of the festival are "to present new works by the film directors and producers in Armenia and foreign cinematographers of Armenian descent and to promote creativity and originality in the area of cinema and video art".
Mardik Martin was an Armenian American screenwriter, known for Mean Streets, New York, New York and Raging Bull – all directed by his lifelong friend Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro. Mardik Martin is among the revered screenwriters on Writers Guild of America list of 101 Greatest Screenplays.
Tigran Yeghiayi Mansurian is a leading Armenian composer of classical and film music, People's Artist of the Armenian SSR (1990), and Honored Art Worker of the Armenian SSR (1984). He is the author of orchestral, chamber, choir, and vocal works which have been played across the world.
Paradjanov is a 2013 Ukrainian biographical drama film directed by Serge Avedikian and Olena Fetisova, about film director Sergei Parajanov. The film was selected as the Ukrainian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.
The 5th Yerevan Golden Apricot International Film Festival was a film festival held in Yerevan, Armenia from 13–20 July 2008. The festival had more than 450 submissions from 67 countries; viewers had an opportunity to see over 160 films. Among the honorable guests of the festival were Wim Wenders, Enrica Antonioni, Goran Paskaljevic, Dariush Mehrjui, Catherine Breillat, and others. A Special Tribute was paid to Michelangelo Antonioni by honoring him with a posthumous Parajanov’s Thaler. Additionally, Wim Wenders and Dariush Mehrjui were honored with Parajanov’s Thaler Lifetime Achievement Awards. The main prizewinners of the 5th Golden Apricot were Anna Melikian from Russia for her film The Mermaid, Meira Asher from Israel for the film Women See Lot of Things, and Eric Nazarian from the USA for The Blue Hour. The FIPRESCI Award went to Huseyn Karabey with his film My Marlon and Brando and the Ecumenical Award to Eric Nazarian with his film The Blue Hour.
Pomegranates is a 2015 album by Chilean-American composer Nicolas Jaar, intended as an unofficial alternative soundtrack to the 1969 Soviet Armenian film The Colour of Pomegranates.
Apricot Groves is a 2016 Armenian–Iranian drama film directed by Pouria Heidary Oureh. The film is one of the most internationally appeared film in the history of Armenian cinema, with dozens of international film festival selections.
