Re: Cultural Horizons of Armenians
1 of 3
GURDJIEFF: THE FOUNDER OF AMERICAN MYSTICISM
By Roya Monajem, Tehran
Payvand News
11/06/07
What follows is the note I added to my translation of Gurdjieff's
canon Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson, subtitled The Objective
Criticism of the Life of Man after, a few days of internal fierce
struggle whether I should take this venture, this risk or not. With
the encouragement of the publisher, I did. My intention in writing
this note was to share with readers what helped me when reading this
amazing 'story book of ontology and cosmology.' I will be grateful
if people familiar with G's teachings and this book in particular,
and those interested in Mysticism, and New Age Spiritualism in general
to criticize this note as it is the only alternative that I can think
of to make sure I haven't gone too wild here!
This is what I wrote there.
Apparently, after sending this work to the publisher (1949), Gurdjieff
tells his entourage that his task is now finished and leaves this
world a week later. Based on the fact that it was translated and sent
to the publisher while he was still alive, one could hope that there
would be only one translation; what a vain wishful thinking!
After finishing the first draft of the translation which was carried
out from the photocopy of the book I had borrowed from Saman Sadjadi
(Penguine 1992), I received a normal copy of 1998 edition. Having
the above wishful thought in mind, I put this on a shelf and
continued checking and working with that photocopy, until one day
when wishing to check some part, I picked up this new book which
was closer at hand. What a shock! No, it can't be true, this is a
different translation! I turned to the first page and found exactly
what was said in the first book: "Original written in Russian and
Armenian. Translations into other languages have been made under the
personal direction of the author..." with no other note mentioning
that this is a new revised edition. Very strange and unexpected from
well-established western publishing system! What is the story?
I started to compare them. As much as I could see they both convey the
same things, but they are different! Now the question was: Which one
of them is the translation carried out "under the personal direction
of the author?"
Yet, we can ask that if they essentially convey the same thing why is
it important to know which is the 'genuine or authentic' copy? Another
question may answer this question. Is a painting produced by a
master painter the same as even its best reproduction carried out
by his most talented and well trained pupil? Our eyes might not see
the difference, but something in us feels and senses it because they
come from two different sources of 'energy and emanations.' In other
words, they come from two different persons at two different levels
of Being. In our case, Gurdjieff's energy should still be present in
one and absent in the other...
To find an answer I contacted two different Gurdjieff's groups in
US through e-mail and it was interesting to find out that both were
as much surprised as I was when I first realized this fact. And they
both suggested that I should take the latest edition as the authentic
copy. Opposite to what I was feeling.
Anyhow at the peak of "what to do?" in this regard, I reached the
section dealing with Islam and while struggling with one of the
typically long Gurdjieffian sentences, I appealed to the new edition
to see how it is translated there. Seeing the term Mohammadi instead
of Moslem and associating what Edward Saeed says about the history of
this term in his Orientalism, I became certain that this can not be
the genuine authentic translation because it almost seems impossible
that Gurdjieff who took a considerable part of his teachings from
Islamic mystics and Islamic mystical orders says Mohammadi instead of
Moslem. Thank goodness, the first question finally found a satisfactory
answer at least for me and from then on I peacefully continued taking
the first copy as the genuine authentic translation and mentioned the
discrepancies only when they were noticeable as footnotes. After all,
what has happened in this regard is nothing new. G gives us ample
information about what has happened during the past human history
each time that a prophet, a theoretician, a philosopher, a mystic,
a man of genius.... puts his head on earth.
There were other important points that had to be pondered upon, and
with the above incidence I no longer had the motivation or inclination
to appeal to G's groups in the west.
The next important 'what to do?' showed itself from the first page of
the first chapter if we don't take the author's introduction as the
first chapter. What Persian equivalent should I use for the frequently
repeated term "common presence?"
Common can not mean ordinary here because the term 'ordinary presence'
is also used every now and then with a different meaning. I used the
Persian word moshtarek which is the meaning it conveys in the English
sentence 'we have common points of view' for example, all the time
thinking whether it is a proper equivalent or not. Why has G used
this term, what does he exactly mean by that? ...
The first simple answer that comes to mind is that he means the
presence that is common in all humans. If so then why didn't he
use only presence? Why does he use the same term for even a single
human being?...
Until one day, (imitating Archimedes): "Eureka!" huzur moshtarek'
must be O.K, for this simple reason that based on a very old belief,
G regards every single human being as a legion and proves it in an
understandable way. We don't have a single 'I", the common presence
is the presence of all this legion of 'I's.
From G's point of view every human being has at least three 'I's
that he calls physical, emotional and mental; and the perfect man
has three bodies, a planetary body, an astral body and a mental body
and taking into consideration the universality of the law of seven,
each of these bodies should consist of seven layers... little by
little we are reaching that legion.
Therefore, perhaps we can say that 'common presence' replaces the
'I' that humans if real should have, but lack as they are.
The other important 'what to do?' concerned G's forged words, in
most cases, long almost unutterable words encountered almost in
every page or so. Some of these words or to be more exact, parts
of them consists of words understandable for any educated English
speaking person. Should these parts be translated? But from another
perspective this words may be looked at as an international language
that if translated will lose this quality. For example, the word
hepta-paraparshinokh means the law of seven which has its own term in
different languages, but when G's word is used, it is not important
what is our mother tongue, we will know exactly what is meant by that.
So although translation of these meaningful parts could help
Persian readers a little in remembering them better, like saying haft
(seven)-paraparshinokh, but again there was a sense or a feeling that
together with responses of the people I consulted in this regard was
telling me that this should not be done and I just should mention these
cases in the corresponding footnotes as much my knowledge allows me.
But what could be G's intention in making these words? He does give
some scattered candid and obscure reasons for it that you will read
as you read through the text, but for those who are not familiar with
G's teachings, although deeply disinclined to transfer my personal
understanding and insights - you will read the reasons later - it is
perhaps useful to mention one of them.
G believes that humans as such are just a special and unique brand of
mechanical transformers of substances and radiations spending their
live in 'sleep.' According to some statistics an average human being
can live at most only for one minute with total and complete presence
and awareness, and I like to add here that even this seemingly very
short time span is a lot and rarely happens. And according to some
other statistics we can keep our attention on the text we read for
only 20 minutes and even this only concerns those texts that really
need attention. Therefore, the first function of these unfamiliar
words for everybody regardless of their mother tongue is to prevent
us from losing attention and 'go back to sleep' or our usual state of
'daydreaming,' and in case this has already happened they compel us to
'wake up' and resume attentive reading.
We can say more about their probable other functions, but let us each
think and discover them for ourselves. There is a long discussion in
Ouspensky's In Search of Miraculous[1] about why it can be harmful
to transfer our personal understanding at the level that this poor
translator may have which frankly and honestly doesn't know where it
is and makes her doubt whether she should have ventured to translate
this work or not in the first place. What gave her some assurance is
based on the text itself.
G says that he has written this book by 'active mentation.' Allow me
to transfer the meaning of this term by telling you a story.
Another important G's pupil (disciple), Orage, who was an experienced
knowledgeable Englishman, the editor of a literary magazine called
New Age and the first organizer of G's groups in US (although
apparently without G's permission and knowledge at first)[2] and
perhaps the first editor of English translation of this work, when
asked why he didn't do much edition, he answered he 'didn't find
it necessary; it is understandable as it is!' (free quotation).[3]
In the peak of reflection and self-doubt about the above question,
that is the relation between understanding and the level of Being,
reading or hearing this about Orage was an assurance. This was more
or less exactly what I felt when I first faced this work. Despite
long sentences, sometimes covering more than half a page, it was
startling to see that with a little bit of concentration and effort,
they can be translated without the need to cut sentences and...
So although Orage's comment decreased that self-doubt, another question
appeared almost immediately that helped me to understand the term
"active mentation" better as well. The question was how is it that
two people, one Persian speaking and the other English speaking,
in two different time-spaces, particularly with such great different
cultural backgrounds have reached almost the same perception in regard
to this work, that is it is understandable.[4] So perhaps this is
the difference between 'objective and subjective art' mentioned in
Miraculous: in objective art, the result of active mentation the
artist knows exactly what sort of effects he/she wishes to create
on the audience regardless of their individual subjectivity. For
example, we all feel overwhelmed when we first face Persepolis,
due to its grandeur and..., and then each depending on the degree of
our understanding (which according to G is the mean of knowledge and
level of Being) is affected in other ways as well. In subjective art,
however, the work is mostly created by accident and thus can have
totally different effects on the audience.
The more I lived with the content of these Tales, the more I could
feel the truth in the fact that G knew exactly what he wanted to do
with his readers.
The second point that should be mentioned in this regard is that
G has written his canon in the form of story. Why? Perhaps because
to make it easier for us, regardless of our race, culture, social
class, level of education and...to understand his teachings. A great
part of this work is indeed written in the form of story, and tells
the story of human life, the world, the cosmos. And stories talk
to our 'commonest presence.' Everybody regardless of his/her race,
social cultural geographical, educational level, understands such
stories. In addition, if we pay a little bit of attention to the
sound of stories when they are told, we can detect the same melody
or different performances of the same melody depending on the language.
Once upon time...Il etait une fois.... ruzi, ruzegaari...Grandparents,
regardless of their time-space of their origin relate stories in the
most loving way to their grandchildren, particularly when they are
their favorite grandson, their heir! This familiar 'romantic' melody
can also play a significant role in facilitating the understanding
of this piece of objective art. And after all, translation of such
stories is no difficult job.
But what can be said about other parts of this work that sound
like when one is trying to solve a difficult mathematical question
and therefore has to press hard one's brain? Here, G uses the same
language that is the contemporary international scientific language
that everybody with a high school diploma should be familiar with it.
Mathematical problems, chemical formulae, biological and physical laws
and principles say the same thing, no matter in what language they
are said or written. Translation of these texts is not very difficult
either, but how much we can understand them is anther thing. It is
here that the reciprocal relation between knowledge and level of Being
comes to play a role and as Molana says 'everybody becomes my company,
according to his/her thoughts.'[5]
.....
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Re: Cultural Horizons of Armenians
PARAJANOV'S MYTHIC QUEST FOR LOVE
By Nicolas Rapold
New York Sun, NY
Oct 31 2007
For much of the 1970s, the legendary director Sergei Parajanov
(1924-90) was imprisoned as a punishment for the crime of making
mind-blowing movies. That's the impression you get, at any rate, after
experiencing "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors," the filmmaker's 1964
breakthrough, which begins a week-long run today at the BAMcinematek,
at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. This folk fever dream, seemingly
possessed by pagan magic and infused with nonstop native music, roils
with the all-consuming passion of its story about a shepherd, Ivan
(Ivan Mikolajchuk), whose beloved Marichka (Larisa Kadochnikova) dies.
In the decade that followed the release of the film, Soviet
apparatchiks harassed the Ukrainian-born Armenian director endlessly,
accusing Parajanov of provincial nationalism, torpedoing his
subsequent films, and eventually jailing him in 1973, five years
after his magnificent 1968 imagining of the Armenian artist Sayat
Nova, "The Color of Pomegranates," which many consider his crowning
achievement. Possessing both empathetic dedication to each movie's
terrain and a vigor of expression to match, the flamboyant, fearless
director posed a threat by unleashing an artistic and spiritual force
that was more basic and potent than ideology.
Filmed among the Gutsuls in Ukraine's Carpathian mountains, "Shadows
of Forgotten Ancestors" has the pith and immediacy of so many muscular
lines of folk poetry. Ivan's childhood is a rough-and-tumble overture:
a tree in a snowy forest that lays low a man; a lunging village idiot
amid peasants resplendent in tunics; heady wanderings through an
Orthodox church mid-ritual. Ivan's joyous courtship with Marichka
despite a family feud is a bucolic apotheosis: As they spin each
other around in a field, the low camera angle makes a single daisy
flit in and out of eclipsing the sun.
The season comes for Ivan to summer with the shepherds, but lovelorn
Marichka seeks him out and tragically slips down a rockface. To this
point, the film's earthy and ruddy tones and bristling mobile camera
are startlingly alive, like a color photograph of a time before time.
But with Marichka's death, Parajanov plunges the film - and Ivan -
into dolorous grays and heavy action that bursts into mania and
devolves into daze.
The colors return when Ivan rehitches with a buxom, heavily sensuous
peasant girl, Palagna (Tatyana Bestayeva), but when the babies
don't come, the heavy-lidded eroticism shifts to a literally haunted
vacancy. Parajanov's sense for the culture's magic becomes palpable
when Palagna consults a grabby sorcerer. The supernatural element that
thrums throughout the film, drawing on pagan and orthodox energies
and bewitching song and dance, feels unified with daily life until
it falls unhinged in these moments of disorder and desperation.
>From the first otherworldly moans of peasant alpine horns, music keeps
"Shadows" grounded and mythic at the same time. There's more singing,
twanging, keening, clattering, and stomping than dialogue.
Like makers of other ethnic cine-portraits, Parajanov knew to find
the heartbeat of a people in its sound and music, and even in the
restive crackling of a rangy fire.
Besides the power of his art, his empathy for native Ukrainian culture
was what irked Soviet authorities, who envisioned one monolithic
Soviet people. "Shadows" renders Carpathian custom, costume, and
music as fully and richly as a documentary, without ever feeling
like one. Like Pasolini eliciting grace from the masses, Parajanov is
never an observer gathering material. He took a different tack from
even his Ukrainian predecessor, the legendary silent-film director
Alexander Dovzhenko, who shot waving grain and sturdy peasants with
pistonlike montage and framing, and a worker-friendly ethos.
Parajanov had in fact studied under Dovzhenko at VGIK, the renowned
Moscow film school. Bracketing his influences was his avowed object
of admiration, the director Andrei Tarkovsky, who was younger by
10 years. You can see an affinity between the one-two pairs of
Tarkovsky's ruralist "Ivan's Childhood" and artist epic "Andrei
Rublev," and Parajanov's "Shadows" and "Color of Pomegranates."
A coda to the passion of "Shadows" is the violent echo of its
family-feud rumblings in Parajanov's early life: His first wife was
murdered for marrying a foreigner. And Soviet life was obviously
a struggle; even his release from the gulags came only after
international pressure, with blacklisting constant. But two more films
followed, and Parajanov spoke of going to America to adapt Longfellow's
"Song of Hiawatha." In that resilience, and in "Shadows of Forgotten
Ancestors," you get the sense of the filmmaker's spirit in every shot.
......
PARA-PARAJANOV EXHIBITION IN BUCHAREST
armradio.am
31.10.2007 17:39
"Para-Parajanov" exhibition of paintings and collages by young
Romainain artists Silvia Kostin and Bogdan Theodoresku based on
creative motives of Sergey Parajanov was opened in "Sigma" art gallery
of Bucharest on October 31.
The paintings on display reflect the spirit and uniqueness of
Parajanov's art. The opening ceremony was attended by fans of the
great director, a number of guests and media representatives.
The event features the Armenian Ambassador to Romania Yeghishe
Sargsyan, who made a speech about Sergey Parajanov's life and work.
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Re: Cultural Horizons of Armenians
Peninsula On-line, Qatar
Oct 27 2007
From Baghdad to NY to Hollywood (LAT-WP)
By Robert W Welkos
Ask Mardik Martin how tall he is, and the white-haired,
barrel-chested University of Southern California screenwriting
professor replies good-naturedly: `5 feet 4. I used to be 5 feet 6
but had back surgery and they shortened me. I'm not joking. I lost a
couple of spine rings, or whatever they call them. Look,' he pauses,
`short isn't exactly the end of the world.' Nor, one might add, loss
of fame, fortune and having your name on the credits of big Hollywood
movies.
It's been decades since he wrote `Raging Bull' (sharing screenplay
credit with Paul Schrader). Yet today, while virtually everyone knows
that Martin Scorsese directed the classic 1980 boxing movie starring
Robert De Niro, few outside of a certain generation in Hollywood or
in the rarefied world of academic cineastes have heard of Mardik, the
name he is affectionately called by his students and friends.
Now 70 and light years from the era when he and New York University
film school buddy Scorsese collaborated on `Mean Streets,' `New York,
New York' and `Raging Bull,' Martin is not bitter seeing the great
heights to which Scorsese has ascended in the intervening years. In
fact, watching Scorsese finally win the Academy Award for best
director for `The Departed' this year made Martin very happy. `He has
kind of been waiting for it for years,' Martin said.
`He's still a good friend. Unfortunately, he's in New York most of
the time. I'm not too crazy about New York, so I don't go there that
often. But I think Marty is great. I think, visually, he's without
peer.'
On October 19, Martin received his own moment in the spotlight when a
new documentary titled `Mardik: From Baghdad to Hollywood' was
screened at the ArcLight in Hollywood as part of the Hollywood Film
Festival.
The 82-minute film by producer-directors Ramy Katrib and Evan York
and producer Jeff Orsa chronicles what the filmmakers note is
Martin's unlikely journey from Iraq to NYU film school, from busboy
to writing `Raging Bull,' from being the hottest writer in New York
to losing it all in Los Angeles, and from forsaking his craft to
becoming a favourite screenwriting teacher at USC. The film features
interviews with Scorsese, director Amy Heckerling, producers Irwin
Winkler and Gene Kirkwood, author Peter Biskind and others.
`We couldn't believe that this man who was living in this normal
apartment (in Studio City) was the writer of `Raging Bull,' ` said
Katrib, founder and CEO of DigitalFilm Tree, a Hollywood production
and post-production company. `We would just go to his house and hang
out. He was a wealth of information. He would usually start by
screaming at us saying, `That was a dumb question!' He wouldn't
terrorize us, but he'd say, `Just get to the point!' Most teachers
tend to be flat. He was dynamic. He would always use a real-life
story to illustrate a point.' Raised in Baghdad in an Armenian
family, Martin said his love of film was inspired by American movies.
`You have to understand,' he said, `Baghdad, even then, was filthy,
dirty, disgusting, with dust and sand. Then you see Betty Grable in
unbelievable Technicolor and the beautiful scenery in the background.
It's like another dimension, it's like finding paradise.'
At 18, he was sent to America by his father so he wouldn't have to
join the Iraqi army and also to get an American education. But not
long afterward, his father lost his business when revolution swept
Iraq in 1958. Martin supported his schooling by working as a busboy
and then as a waiter at Toots Shor's famous restaurant in Manhattan.
It was at NYU that he met Scorsese. `We spent a lot of time together
aside from writing,' he noted. `We had like 15 ideas, a lot of ideas.
`Let's do this, let's do that'. Everything (Scorsese) did coming out
of NYU is basically Marty and Mardik,' Katrib said. `They were like a
team.' They made a documentary about Scorsese's parents called
`Italianamerican.' Martin did the pre-production interviews. `I put
the answers down on paper,' he recalled. `You don't ask questions if
you don't know the answers already.'
But it was 1973's `Mean Streets' that catapulted their careers.
Audiences marveled at the gritty dialogue. `They think it's all made
up on the screen, which is untrue,' Martin said, noting that he
achieved the realistic dialogue by reading what he had written into a
tape recorder until the lines were just as he envisioned the actors
doing them. `Mean Streets' changed not only their careers but also
those of the movie's stars, Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel.
`The whole situation became suddenly a different world for us,'
Martin said. `I stopped teaching and moved to L.A. I got a couple of
jobs, did some documentary-style writing for some people. I signed
with Chartoff/Winkler' (the producers of `Rocky').
He re teamed with Scorsese on `New York, New York' and recalled how
`they had to shoot whether the script was ready or not. That was the
problem.' But he adds: `Right now, I think it works better than it
did then. Years have done justice to it.'
Still, it is `Raging Bull' that he will be most remembered for. He
spent a year and a half researching the life of boxer Jake LaMotta.
`De Niro wanted to make `Raging Bull,' but Marty didn't (because) he
hated boxing and sports,' Martin said.
`Bob and I sat down and watched every boxing movie ever made - not to
copy, just the opposite, not to do what other people had done,'
Martin recalled. They convinced Scorsese there was a movie in it by
having him visualise scenes, like fighters' blood spraying the crowd.
But Hollywood was changing. `Star Wars' and `E.T. the
Extra-Terrestrial' highlighted the new world of computer wizardry in
films. `I can't write that kind of stuff,' Martin said. His scripts
were, after all, rooted in realism, not fantasy.
As is so common in Hollywood, he found himself unable to get his
projects up and going. `He was the original writer on `Carlito's Way'
and then he made fun of one of Al Pacino's movies and ended up losing
the account,' Katrib said. `He was nitpicking `Scarface.' When he
talked to us about it, he said ... he didn't think it was a good
story.'
There was another project he hoped to make about a famous
photojournalist of the 1930s known as Weegee , but somebody else beat
him to the punch with a similar movie. `When it bombed, nobody would
touch my story.' Along the way, Martin had become hooked on cocaine.
He used the drug, he said, not to party but `only to keep me up' at
night so he could keep writing.
`He speaks out about it to his students,' Katrib said. `What teacher
says, `Hey, kid, don't do that'?' Martin eventually lost his house
and his personal belongings. One of the movie's poignant scenes has
Martin expressing regret that he never fathered any children. He was
married for six years, he said, but writers and marriage do not make
for stable relationships.
He is in his 11th year of writing a book about screenwriting. He said
he likely will have to take time off from teaching to finish the
work. On November 4, Martin will be honored with a lifetime
achievement award at the 10th annual ARPA International Film Festival
at its gala awards banquet at the Sheraton Universal Hotel.
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Re: Cultural Horizons of Armenians
Armenians & The Russian Indie Movie Industry.
Burgeoning market plays it safe
Variety.com
October 24, 2007
By TOM BIRCHENOUGH
In Russia's rapidly growing distribution market, top-level indie films
-- with the right distributor and release strategy -- surpass or match
Hollywood studio fare. The middle ground is sparser; more determined
arthouse films look increasingly desperate for screen space and audience
interest, leaving would-be distribs disgruntled at rising asking prices
for specialty films. That's increasingly pushed many indie players
toward distributing local fare and expanding into exhibition. With
screen space still at a premium, though, many distribs will be looking
only for DVD and ancillary rights at AFM.
Central Partnership (CP)
Topper: Ruben Dishdishyan
B.O.: $66.8 million
Top pic: `Wolfhound' ($20 million)
In brief: Founded in 1996, CP is the major player on the Russian indie
front. It is well-capitalized and aligned with parent company
Prof-Media, which is also investing in multiplexes. Strong domestic film
and TV production slate dominates over acquisitions. Foreign purchases
aimed at top indie product (released via main CP label) as well as at
arthouse fare (via CP Digital). The main Russian player at AFM, CP also
is the main seller of Russian product at markets: AFM screenings include
costumers such as Vladimir Khotinenko's `1612'as well as contempo
actioners `Paragraph 78' and `Revenge.'
Paradise
Topper: Gevorg Nersisyan
B.O.: $36.7 million
Top pic: `Resident Evil 3' ($9.1 million)
In brief: Shingle, launched in 1992, favors predominantly European niche
acquisitions, prebuying projects by auteurs such as Emir Kusturica. Its
ownership of around 30 miniplex screens in and around Moscow (via its
Five Stars brand and flagship two-screener Rolan) has made Paradise a
leading player locally. Entered into domestic production with last
year's boffo WWII kid drama `Scum.'
West
Topper: Tigran Dokhalov
B.O.: $19.4 million
Top pic: `1408' ($3.4 million)
In brief: West's slate highlights more English-language indie fare than
others, currently most dominantly repped by Weinstein Co. product. No
sign of support for local production just yet, but West, founded in
1994, controls at least three Moscow screens, including its flagship
Orbita venue.
Cascade Film
Topper: Stepan Pojenyan
B.O.: $15.3 million
Top pic: `Servant of the Sovereign' ($5.3 million)
In brief: When Sony and Disney set up direct distribution in territory,
Cascade opted to remain an independent player. It has sought out local
product to distribute, with company's top results this year being
costumer `Servant of the Sovereign' (repped at AFM by CP). Outfit
co-distributed some international product this year with Paradise.
Pyramid
Topper: Sergei Sendyk
B.O.: $7.2 million
Top pic: `Hostel 2' ($1.5 million)
In brief: Grown out of a TV, DVD and ancillary sales rights company,
Pyramid is now active in the theatrical market and runs a number of
Moscow cinemas. Acquisitions are broadly focused on English-language
product. Distrib has an extensive library.
Kino Bez Granits (Cinema Without Borders) (CWB)
Topper: Sam Klebanov
B.O.: $684,000
Top pic: `Reincarnation' ($84,000)
In brief: Shingle has remained Russia's main arthouse player, though
founder Klebanov is the first to admit it's a precarious role. The
Russian-born, now Swedish citizen runs a tight ship through a
Gothenburg-based affiliate company. Focus is on Euro festival fare, with
a greater emphasis on Asian product than most others in the field. CWB
also handles limited releases of local arthouse pics.
Intercinema
Topper: Raisa Fomina
B.O.: n/a
Top pic: n/a
In brief: Kept indie fare alive in territory through the lean 1990s, as
well as repping local quality product at international markets for more
than a decade. Ambitions seem to have been pulled back somewhat with
more selective acquisitions. Outfit continues to work with local
filmmakers such as Andrei Zvagintsev (2003's `The Return' and 2007
Cannes actor winner `The Banishment').
Note: For CWB and Paradise, 2007 B.O. through Oct. 1; for others, B.O.
Dec. 1, 2006-Oct 14, 2007
Source: Russian Film Business Today
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Re: Cultural Horizons of Armenians
ARMENIAN-AMERICAN AUTHOR SITS DOWN FOR Q & A
By Phyllis Sides
Journal Times, WI
Oct 22 2007
RACINE - The Armenian experience told through the words of 17
first-generation Armenian-American writers is documented in a newly
released anthology edited by Racine native David Kherdian.
"Forgotten Bread: First-Generation Armenian American Writers" includes
the writing of William Saroyan, Michael J. Arlen, A.I.
Bezzerides and Kherdian, who are among the more well-known writers
in the anthology.
Writing is a tool many young Armenians used to maintain their
identities while becoming American and one they used to deal with the
pain of the past, Kherdian said. Kherdian is the author of more than
60 books of poetry and prose. His work has been translated into 13
languages and published in 12 countries around the world. He is the
editor of nine anthologies, in addition to the journals "Ararat,"
an Armenian American literary journal; "Forkroads: A Journal of
Ethnic American Literature," and "Stopinder: A Gurdjieff Journal for
Our Time."
On Wednesday, Kherdian took a few minutes to share his thoughts and
feelings about "Forgotten Bread" with his hometown newspaper.
Does the Anthology's title have a special meaning?
It is taken from a poem by one of the poets in the book; an excerpt
appears on back of the dust jacket. It denotes something lost and
then found, perhaps something one did not know one had until its
absence sends an echo through one's life. Everyone seems to love
the title, perhaps because its ambiguity resonates in each of us,
like the question: What does life mean?
How and why did you choose the authors included?
I had read all of them through the years, knew most of them personally,
and William Saroyan, the one international figure in the book, was
my mentor and friend.
Growing up in Racine, I felt cut off from the world of art, and for
years my yearning to be an artist myself had to be kept under wraps.
When some of these writers began publishing, in the late '50s -
and they were not much older than I was then, I could see that the
possibility of an Armenian kid living in the hinterlands could also
possibly attain something of what they had achieved.
It was a long shot, but without their presence it wouldn't have been
even that. And so when I moved to San Francisco after my final exam
at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I soon became friends with
the beat writers there, including Allen Ginsberg, Richard Brautigan,
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, et al, and then out of the blue I began writing
poetry myself, when I thought all along I would be a writer of prose
fiction.
This impelled me to search even deeper into my roots because it was
plain to me that my writing belonged to an older tradition, and so
other writers of Armenian descent became my connection, linking for me
the past with the present. It was natural that one day I would compile
this anthology, which, by the way, begins with three writers from the
old country who came here both before and after the genocide and made
the decision to write in English, thereby becoming Armenian-American
writers of the first generation.
When you selected them, did you have a specific goal in mind?
I wanted to preserve writing that I knew with certainty was going to
perish, with possibly a few - very few - exceptions. I didn't want
this to happen, especially because during these writers' lifetimes
the exigencies of life were such that their compatriots had little
time for art, and could not see that it might hold some kind of value
and importance for them.
As the anthology grew in my mind and on paper, I began to realize that
I was going to bring something very new to the table, from something
very old and forgotten. Because of this anthology, Armenian-American
literature is now born and is part of the American canon. We are a
distinctive strain, or sensibility if you like, that brings something
very unique to the body of American literature, and that is no small
thing, especially for a minority as tiny as ours.Leave a comment:
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Re: Cultural Horizons of Armenians
Kohar Symphony Orchestra and Choir
Los Angeles Times
Oct 19 2007
WORLD MUSIC REVIEW
Armenian orchestra crosses genres
The massive Kohar Symphony Orchestra and Choir spells enjoyment to
Gibson Amphitheatre audience.
By Don Heckman, Special to The Times
It was apparent, even before a single member of the Kohar Symphony
Orchestra and Choir arrived onstage Thursday at the Gibson
Amphitheatre, that a special event was about to take place. The front
edge of the stage was covered with a colorful garland of flowers, two
pillars spelled out the word "Kohar" and the stage was set for a full
orchestra and a large choir.
Despite the setting, the first performer -- Hamlet Tchobanian -- was
neither a musician nor a singer, but a mime. His arrival announced by
a loud cymbal crash, he lurked across the stage in classic,
white-faced, Marcel Marceau fashion. Opening a pair of illusory
gates, he majestically introduced the 130-plus members of the
Armenian Kohar Symphony and Choir.
Led by artistic director Sebouh Abkarian, his long white hair waving
dramatically with each thrust of his baton, the Kohar players offered
a buoyant waltz to begin a long, stirring evening of Armenian-tinged
music. Here, as in many of the pieces to follow, Kohar's sound and
style often had the lightweight but entertaining quality of a summer
pops orchestra.
But Kohar crossed genres far more freely than the average pops
ensemble. Gagik Malkasian's virtuosic duduk playing and the busy
fingers of kanoun artist Anahid Valesian added Armenian authenticity.
Classically oriented pieces were delivered in well-crafted fashion,
and Kohar went so far as to open the second half with a surprisingly
swinging number titled "Tetmajazz."
As the mime-introduced opening implied, however, a Kohar performance
is more spectacle than concert. Most of the music was vocal, sung by
soloists whose styles ranged from big-voiced operatic to
international lounge. In most cases, the singers' numbers were
enhanced by the engaging presence of eight female dancers led by the
gorgeously lithe Sousana Mikayelian. Letters from the Armenian
alphabet were spotlighted across the ceilings and walls, and the
program climaxed with a burst of golden streamers flying out into the
audience.
Much of the second half of the concert, in fact, was strongly
oriented toward the predominantly Armenian crowd. Spirited patriotic
songs, pop tunes and familiar traditional numbers drew an escalating
response -- hand-clapping, sing-alongs and enthusiastic shouts.
Kohar was founded in 1997 by Harout Khatchadourian and his brothers,
who entirely sustain the ensemble and its concerts. Named in honor of
their mother, Kohar, the founders' goal with the ensemble is the "aim
of reviving and promulgating the Armenian alphabet and culture."
Kohar did that and more Thursday, positioning the capacity of
Armenian music to reach out stylistically while still retaining its
rich creative identity.
WORLD-RENOWNED KOHAR SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND CHOIR KICKS OFF ITS FIRST-EVER NORTH AMERICAN TOUR OF EIGHT CITIES ON OCTOBER 18 IN LOS ANGELES
BusinessWire
Oct 17 2007
- Be In The News Public Relations Emanuela Cariolagian, 323-644-2111
[email protected] KOHAR Symphony Orchestra & Choir -0-
WHO: KOHAR is an internationally acclaimed symphony orchestra and
choir that fuses the sounds of Armenian culture and heritage with
classical music. KOHAR Symphony Orchestra & Choir is the only symphony
orchestra that integrates symphonic-jazz music with traditional
Armenian instruments to generate Armenian folkloric music in a modern
rendition. KOHAR is comprised of 150 performing artists, musicians,
choral singers, soloists, dancers, and a pantomime. Traveling
all the way from Gyumri, Armenia, KOHAR also will perform some of
the most favored Armenian patriotic and popular songs. WHAT: With
audiences throughout the Near East and Europe and fans worldwide,
KOHAR Symphony Orchestra and Choir has performed in Beirut, Lebanon;
Nicosia, Cyprus; Istanbul, Turkey; and Moscow, Russia. KOHAR Symphony
Orchestra & Choir's DVD was bestowed the Intermedia Award during the
World Media Festival in Hamburg, Germany in 2004. KOHAR also received
the Anoush Achievement Award during the seventh annual Armenian Music
Awards, held at the Hollywood Palladium in California in May 2005. The
award was presented to KOHAR for its contribution to Armenian culture,
which is exemplified in the All Time Armenian Favourites DVD.
WHEN AND WHERE: CITIES, DATES AND LOCATIONS OF KOHAR'S AMERICAS TOUR INCLUDE:
Los Angeles Thursday, October 18, 2007 at 8:15 PM Gibson Amphitheatre Universal CityWalk Universal City, CA 91608
San Francisco Friday, October 26, 2007 at 8:15 PM Nob Hill Masonic Center San Francisco, CA 94108
Detroit Tuesday, October 30, 2007 at 8:15 PM Max M. Fisher Music Center Detroit, Michigan 48201
Chicago Thursday, November 1, 2007 8:15 PM Harris Theater Chicago, Illinois 60601 Boston Saturday, November 10, 2007 at 8:15 PM Colonial Theatre Boston, Massachusetts 02116
Toronto Friday, November 16, 2007 8:15 PM Toronto Centre for the Arts - Main Stage Toronto, Ontario, CANADA M2N 6R8
Montreal Sunday, November 18, 2007 at 8:00 PM Place des Arts - Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier Montreal, Quebec, CANADA H2X 1Y9
New York Tuesday, November 20, 2007 8:15 PM Carnegie Hall - Isaac Stern Auditorium New York, NY 10019
TICKET INFORMATION: Tickets ($25 - $150) are on sale now at
each venue box office, via Ticketmaster, Ticket fusion (SF only) and
KOHARConcert.com. Groups of 100+ may be eligible for a 10% discount,
subject to availability. For details, visit http://www.KOHARConcert.com or
call 323-469-7356. NOTE: Photos, CDs and Press Tickets for Performance
Previews and Reviews Available Upon Request
KOHAR Concert Commences Its Tour to U.S. and Canada, Performing
for the First Time in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit, Chicago,
Boston, Toronto, Montreal and New York's Carnegie Hall to Follow.
Leave a comment:
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Re: Cultural Horizons of Armenians
Festivals In Armenia
HAYFEST: 10 DAYS, 90 PRESENTATIONS
Panorama.am
14:46 05/10/2007
Today at 8 p.m. at the Stanislavsky Russian Theater the opening
ceremony will take place of the 5th Hayfest theatrical festival. This
was announced at a meeting with journalists by Hayfest president
Artur Ghukasyan.
According to Ghukasyan, 350 participants from 33 countries will take
part in the festival, as well as 40 theatrical troupes from Great
Britain, America, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and other countries.
"In the framework of the festival, some 90 presentations will be
offered, on 14 different stages.
There will also be a seminar on new drama," said Ghukasyan. In his
words, several films connected with the festival will be shown at the
National Gallery of Art, as well as related programs to be shown on
"Kentron" television station. Ghukasyan added that several important
artists will participate, as well as presidents of international
festivals, directors, and film experts. A round table discussion will
center on advancing art in Armenia and art management.
We remind that the festival was founded in 2002, and since has been
included in the international film festival circuit, including several
based in Europe.
We note that in 2006 the festival was noted as the best in the region,
except for the Moscow festival.
Hayfest will continue until October 14.
HIGHFEST 5th INTERNATIONAL PERFORMING ARTS FESTIVAL STARTS IN YEREVAN
Author: Ruzanna Bagratunian
Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Oct 5 2007
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 5, NOYAN TAPAN. The Highfest 5th international
performing arts festival started on October 4 in Yerevan with the
performance "The Canterville Ghost" of the Lucia Armenian company
of actors. Its opening was followed by a theatrical parade and
fireworks in Charles Aznavour Square. According to Artur Ghukasian,
the festival's Chairman, nearly 100 performances will be presented by
33 countries' companies of actors in the days of the festival being
held on October 4-14. 17 theaters will take part in this already
traditional theater festival. The companies of actors will perform
on all Yerevan stages and open squares.
"Five years ago the festival was founded as a theatrical one, but
later it became a festival of performing arts. We tried to expand the
festival's framework by involving new and interesting works created
in other spheres of art, which are also a theater by their form,"
the festival's Chairman said.
Artur Ghukasian said that renowned artists, international festivals'
chairmen, theater critics will take part in the Yerevan festival.
They will hold seminars and round tables on the spot dedicated to
cultural policy and art management in Armenia.
According to A. Ghukasian, the festival will give Armenian spectators
an opportunity to watch different countries' best performances
of pantomime, dramatic, puppet performances, as well as those of
modern dance theaters. It was mentioned that a Festival of Puppet
and Children's Theaters will be also organized within the framework
of Highfest.
Mike Ribalta, the Chairman of the Fira Tarrega Spanish theatrical
festival, said that he is glad to take part in this young festival
and expects not only to see interesting performances, but also
to learn. Mike Ribalta, who has arrived in Armenia on a three-day
visit, will try to help young and talented actors and interesting
companies of actors. "I have not only come to watch good, bad or
average performances, but I wish to help young people to make an
attempt to perform abroad as well."
"GOLDEN APRICOT" IN SHOUSHI
By Haroutiun Khachatrian, Director of the international film festival "Golden Apricot"
AZG Armenian Daily
06/10/2007
On September 23-30, in Shoushi (Artsakh) the first festival
"Golden Apricot in Shoushi" was held on the initiative of the
"Golden Apricot" film festival foundation and under the patronage of
"Karabakh Telecom". The Chairman of Honor of the festival was the
Mayor of Yerevan Ervand Zakharian. The opening ceremony was held in
movie theatre "Yerevan" (Shoushi), reconstructed by means of "Shushi
Renaissance" foundation. More than 40 feature and documentary films of
"Golden Apricot" festival program were shown in "Yerevan".
"Shushi - Golden Apricot" 2007 film festival is not only a cultural
event. It has deeper meaning and intention, as it is held in a town
that has been a cultural center for centuries. Today Shoushi is
of a great importance as it carries the motto "The crossroads of
civilizations and cultures".
The aim of the festival in Artsakh is not only to continue
the film days; it's already 4 years that we invite well-known
cinema professionals of different ethnic, national and religious
affiliations. Thanks to the festival our country becomes a tangible
territory, where we can discuss not only creative and cooperation
programs, but also present the past and the present of our country.
EREBUNI-YEREVAN FESTIVAL TO BE HELD IN CAPITAL ON OCTOBER 11-13
Author: Hakobian Hasmik Editor: Eghian Robert
Noyan Tapan News Agency
Oct 9 2007
Armenia
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 9, NOYAN TAPAN. The events envisaged within the
frameworks of the Erebuni-Yerevan festival will be held between
October 11 and 13. According to the information provided to a Noyan
Tapan correspondent in the Administration of Culture, Youth and Sport
Issues of the municipality of Yerevan, the photo-exhibition titled
"Yerevan through my eyes" will open in the foyer of the Al.
Spendiarian Opera and Ballet National Academic Theatre on October 11.
The solemn opening ceremony of the festival will take place in the
same evening in the theatre, which will be followed by a concert,
then by a discotheque in the Freedom square.
Different festive events will be held in the parks of the capital on
Ocotber 12, an amateur chess tournament and a competition of chalky
pictures will be organized in the Freedom square. The closing ceremony
of the festival will take place in the same evening in the Republican
square. Festive events will be held in the communities of the capital
on October 13.
It should be mentioned that the delegations of about 14 countries
will arrive in Yerevan for the purpose of taking part in the festival.
BOOK FESTIVAL TO BE HELD ON OCTOBER 13-14 IN YEREVAN WITHIN FRAMEWORK OF TRANSLATORS' DAY
Author: Hakobian Hasmik Editor: Eghian Robert
Noyan Tapan News Agency
Oct 9 2007
Armenia
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 9, NOYAN TAPAN. A Book Festival under the motto We
Build a Spiritual Homeland will be held on October 13-14 in Yerevan,
within the framework of Translators' Day. The festival's organizers
are the Ararat Patriarchal Diocese, the Republican Party of Armenia
(RPA), and the De Facto public-political magazine.
As Grigor Hovhannisian, the Chairman of the festival's steering
committee, said at the October 9 press conference, both
publishing-houses and individuals can take part in the festival.
According to the organizers, pavilions will be given to all
participants free of charge, for them to have the possibility to
present their books to society. It was also mentioned that the whole
gain from the festival will be spent on founding a bookstore-library
in Stepanakert.
According to Eduard Sharmazanov, an RA MP, RPA's Spokesperson, the
festival's goal is to restore society's interest and love for books,
to raise books' role and importance in all strata of society.
Leave a comment:
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Re: Cultural Horizons of Armenians
THE LIFE OF YOUSUF KARSH
By Maria Tippett
House of Anansi Press
Embassy Magazine, Canada
Oct 10 2007
There were few unelected people so inextricably a part of Canadian
politics, government, foreign affairs and Ottawa life as Yousuf Karsh.
>From his Sparks Street studio to his Château Laurier suite the famous
photographer and his first wife Solange, who died in 1961, and his
second wife, Estrellita (below, right), made an indelible mark on the
lives of world leaders and ordinary Canadians through his amazingly
stylized black and white pictures. He really had it all: he could be
as superficial as Life Magazine, which did publish his work, and as
soulful as American artist Georgia O'Keefe, whom he once photographed
(top, right).
Cultural historian Maria Tippett's new book The Life of Yousuf Karsh
captures the depth and the superficiality, along with the wisdom,
the humor and pain of Karsh. Making her own writing transparent, she
brings the exceptional Armenian-Canadian photographer back to life
for a whole new generation. And with her engaging Karsh anecdotes are
several dozen Karsh photos-several of them rarely seen, many of them
worthy of a long gaze.
Iconic though he is and was in his own lifetime, Karsh was hardly
a lapdog of Canadian politicians, who believed his photos could be
counted on to enhance their agendas. Their ease with Karsh came partly
because he could always be counted on to produce a posed photo. There
were no candids in the style of France's Henri Cartier-Bresson. There
were few surprises.
And then in 1952 when Maclean's magazine asked Karsh to provide a photo
tour of Canada for the grand fee of $1,500 a picture plus expenses,
it turned out that not all the pictures were postcard material.
"There were...some marvelous exceptions," writes Ms. Tippett. "The
bone-chilling photograph of a child in an iron lung at the 'Sick
Kids' hospital in Toronto. The stark image of an unidentified woman
recovering from tuberculosis at an Edmonton hospital." There were
photos of Canada's poor and infirm; photos that showed the desperate
situation of Canada's First Nations Peoples.
Not all white Canadians appreciated Karsh's view of Canada.
"In response to Karsh's photo essay on Edmonton, one [Maclean's]
reader asked, 'Is the population made up entirely of Indians, Eskimos
and Orientals?'"
But it was the dining habits of the photographer and his wife Solange
while they were working in Prince Edward Island that got him into hot
water with the premier and saw Karsh attacked in the House of Commons.
The Karshes sat down to a dreadful meal at a
P.E.I. government-subsidized restaurant hotel, according to the
Maclean's report. The dinner had begun with a seafood xxxxtail that had
neither sauce nor lemon and was not fresh. The jellied consomme that
followed had lumps of commercial gelatin floating in the broth. And
the rare beef tenderloin was not only less that one-quarter of an
inch thick but was overdone. It was the potatoes Florentine that
came in for the most criticism. When they were placed before Karsh,
he buried his face in his hands. Equally disgusted, Solange offered
to write a pamphlet for the premier, Walter Jones, on One Hundred
Ways to Cook Potatoes.
"The premier responded by suggesting that there was only one way to
cook a potato and that was to boil it."
The verbal food fight that ensued had the Conservative MP for Queens,
P.E.I. standing up in the Commons to denounce Karsh as "a doubtful
Canadian." Peterborough Examiner editor Robertson Davies came to
Karsh's defence by writing, "We are all foreigners, in some way or
other, in Canada."
Mr. Davies was right on two counts. We are all foreigners here,
and Karsh was an especially worthy one.Leave a comment:
Leave a comment: