Yo Armenians!!!! time to support!!! EAST OF BYZANTIUM!

[Mamgun]

Re: Yo Armenians!!!! time to support!!! EAST OF BYZANTIUM!

Mmmmmm interesting... wow, where do I start? Ok:

Haykakan: Thank You, that is all we want. a chance to make our audience proud. We know there are a lot of skeptics... come on! we are Armenians, we are raised with that attitude (even tho many will say in later posts Not me Not me). We are trying to pull something off that not many have tried. out of fear? most likely... making such a huge endeavor, with responsibility honor and wisdom it's a hard task.... well we love it, we are crazy... we are madmen, you have to be.

The political point, my friend I'm with you and the production is with you. Guess what we don't make good guys and bad guys. This is not 300 (taking notes Stark?). We believe that Armenia was in quite a predicament in the middle of 2 super powers. This has nothing to do with Iran today or the Western world. This movie is about Armenia, its history, its people, its inner struggles, the value of honor, brotherhood, betrayal and so forth.
All of the above surrounded with a story that we all know, but, humanizing history and our great figures into people that we can relate and look up to. Also as a note this project started around 1999, so it has nothing to do with the current political events. Actually it has to do more with us as a community than anything else.

ok moving on: Thanks KanadaHye and Tigranakert you guys are great supporters keep up the good work and spread the film around.

One Way: You and I chatted already and I don't think there is no need on reviving old discussions. We agree to disagree. I respect your opinion but I do reserve certain respect due to that you know who I am (Martin Yernazian) and I don't know who you are. But again That is ok with me and I wish you great of luck with your film career.

And Now the moment that you guys been waiting for: STARK!!!! (I have the Hanz Zimmer fighting themes in my head)

Nop just kidding.

Man, where do I start with you??

The funny thing is I enjoy and respect most of the filmmakers you mentioned (even worked and lunched with them a few times, you forgot a few but that is ok) You clearly have a taste in great cinema.
Are you a filmmaker? I ask like asked One way before because I love keeping up with new cinema, from every where in the world. ( I'm from Argentina so to me cinema doesn't come from Hollywood... well at least not all great cinema)

Anyhow, I also agree we do need lasting intelligent MEMORABLE Cinema, the one that creates a savvy and quirky foot print in world culture.

I agree that making films to just entertain a part of the culture it is a stupid and childish, we are not for that either... actually we are not about a lot of trendy xxxx put out there, where are actually about many obscure movements many people out there don't know about (Dogma 95, Black Comedy, Cinema Novo, Noir, German Expressionism, Nouvelle Vague, Third Cinema, Nuevo Latino, etc)

But there is one thing that ticks me off. Not that you express your opinion... nop, actually I welcome it, its fuel, to make a better film, one that will knock your teeth out. One that the moment you stand in front it can kick the living xxxx out of you.

What ticks me off is assumption.. oh man... if you are a filmmaker I hope they don't do it to you because you'll know how it feels.

What is the assumption? the assumption of thinking that you know the intention of the filmmakers... I can't stop you, hell no! but the moment you say that we are trying to make a knock off of LOTR and 300 man that pisses me off. and just based on a teaser
(and earlier one bye the way, that we shared with our audience because they wanted to see our development material)

Again I repeat, this is development, this is not the film. This is like A+ high end moving story boards to show the studios why do we want to make this film and why do we need that much money.

Again, I make no apologies for it. We got amazing response from huge artist and fillmakers in the industry (including some of those directors that you mentioned and many more, that is why is funny)
We feel proud of the film we are making, and despite all the skeptics we are moving forward.

The 2 East of Byzantium films will change history and will create a window for many more films to come... ( including yours if you are a filmmaker) That is what we are fighting for, We know in our hearts that we are going to make great cinema and create a path for new filmmakers with new voices.

So Stark you are entitled to say anything... it's your opinion and I understand it and we hope to prove you wrong but if you don't... oh well, then is not for you, its for the rest of 10.999.999 Armenians around the world. and we are ok with that

Have a good day to all of you and I hope some of you will share your work as well... but don't worry we are not here to judge or hate but encourage & support.

A new Era of Intelligent Cinema is coming... we hope you are behind us! pushing... cuz we love it biotches!

Yernazian Out!

[One-Way]

Re: Yo Armenians!!!! time to support!!! EAST OF BYZANTIUM!

I'm with Stark on this and have made it very clear in the past. I did say it was just a complete copy of 300 but nobody cares. I'm not bashing the film but it's a digital experiment, nothing else.

I don't want to repeat what Stark said, so I won't.

[Stark Evade]

Re: Yo Armenians!!!! time to support!!! EAST OF BYZANTIUM!

Stark Evade, based on what? I guess you look like your Avatar in real life, bad for you.

Mamgun, it's looks amazing, I wish you good look as you and your friends are the current hero's of the Armenian people. If you succeed, this will help us enormously to promote our national culture and country in the international arena and to raise the spirits of the Armenian youth worldwide. We should be proud of our history and proud of people who do not forget our history. Aprek!

Clever insult. I'm trembling from its meaningfulness.

I think it looks like crap based on the trailer I saw a while ago. It's an obvious combination of 300 and Lord of the Rings. I didn't even like those movies much but the idea of copying them so blatantly is just plain ridiculous. No originality. Do you really think that someone who is anything but an artistically ignorant Armenian desperate to impress his culture on the Western world would enjoy this nonsense? No. They're just going to say, "Oh look, they're trying to copy movies that were cool a few years ago in a futile attempt to also be cool." Great. That's what we need. How about people get their kicks by watching Vartan Bastrmamikonian on YouTube a few more times to get this crap out of their system and then focus their money and energy into making artistically significant films that have a chance at being recognized for a unique accomplishment. We don't need copycats out their wasting time giving shortlived hardons to a population of uncreative teenage and 20-something Armenians. We need people to make a LASTING, INTELLECTUAL IMPACT like David Lynch, Lars Von Trier, Bela Tarr, Jim Jarmusch, Aleksandr Sokurov, Wong Kar Wai, Michel Gondry, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Quentin Tarantino, Pedro Almodovar, etc. etc. Attend the Starkly Evasive School of Film before picking up a camera and causing embarrassment.

[Haykakan]

Re: Yo Armenians!!!! time to support!!! EAST OF BYZANTIUM!

Lets just see the finished product first and then we can judge. I hope it will be good but i am rather suspicious of the subject matter and its timing. A movie comes out depicting Iran in a less then favorable light when the UN is considering sanctions and Isreal and the USA want to bomb it.. hmmm sounds fishy to me. Lets also consider that the movie is about the only good partner in the region Iran has and shows how we were enemies. Call me a conspiracy theorist if you like but it all sounds rather suspicious to me.

[KanadaHye]

Re: Yo Armenians!!!! time to support!!! EAST OF BYZANTIUM!

Stark Evade, based on what? I guess you look like your Avatar in real life, bad for you.

Mamgun, it's looks amazing, I wish you good look as you and your friends are the current hero's of the Armenian people. If you succeed, this will help us enormously to promote our national culture and country in the international arena and to raise the spirits of the Armenian youth worldwide. We should be proud of our history and proud of people who do not forget our history. Aprek!

He's entitled to his opinion, he just needs to expand on it instead of throwing out a blanket statement.

[Tigranakert]

Re: Yo Armenians!!!! time to support!!! EAST OF BYZANTIUM!

Stark Evade, based on what? I guess you look like your Avatar in real life, bad for you.

Mamgun, it's looks amazing, I wish you good look as you and your friends are the current hero's of the Armenian people. If you succeed, this will help us enormously to promote our national culture and country in the international arena and to raise the spirits of the Armenian youth worldwide. We should be proud of our history and proud of people who do not forget our history. Aprek!

[KanadaHye]

Re: Yo Armenians!!!! time to support!!! EAST OF BYZANTIUM!

I hope this movie does make it to the bigscreen, best of luck.

[Stark Evade]

Re: Yo Armenians!!!! time to support!!! EAST OF BYZANTIUM!

I'm sorry but East of Byzantium looks like complete crap.

[Mamgun]

Re: Yo Armenians!!!! time to support!!! EAST OF BYZANTIUM!

The video looks great! Good luck with making this movie.

Thanks Lernakan! Pass it around!

[Mamgun]

Re: Yo Armenians!!!! time to support!!! EAST OF BYZANTIUM!

If this is 5% of what the final version will look like then I'm very impressed! Looking forward to seeing it on the big screen.

By the way, are you sure that khachkars existed back in the 5th century, and were not created in a later period?

Dear Davo88: Normally you need dozens of people and lots of money to get it done amazing. We were 5 to 7 experts (in post production of course) working around the clock with limited funds to be able to present this as a sample for studios, investors,e tc etc.

When I said 5% I most likely mean 1 or 2% because we knew we could do so much better... I mean so much more if we had the the dram to make the film.

So yes this a very tiny sample of what we can do and what the film would look like. People that judge it thinking this is it... well they are fools! this is development! I never... in the 16 years of my career have seen development material that is so advanced.... studios and agents noticed too.... they were very impressed... some of them said is the movie? and we explain again to them.

Next is Rogers graphic novel with side stories surrounding the Vartan story, to create interest both with the Armenian community and the World.

So far we have a lot of attention coming from the world.... that is why we want our Armenian base to get stronger and support the effort.

Remember guys this is the first effort of many. you help us unlock that door and we are going to get better and better.

Thanks again for your support

Martín Yernazian