Hye Sharzhoom Armenian Action
Hakop Tataryan
Staff Writer
Today there are a great many documentaries on the Armenian Genocide. Thus, making a new one that positively stands out can be quite a task. However, Araz Artinian has achieved that very task with her documentary The Genocide in Me.
On Friday, March 16, 2006 the Armenian Students Organization along with the Armenian Studies Program held a screening of The Genocide in Me, in the Peters Auditorium. Araz Artinian was present to speak about her project, as well as answer questions after the movie. Fresno was one of forty cities that Artinian toured with her film. The evening was a great success, as audience members showed great interest in the film while commending Artinian on her great accomplishment. At the end of the evening audience members purchased autographed copies of the DVD while having the opportunity to take pictures with the writer/producer.
Araz Artinian is an Armenian-Canadian filmmaker who last visited Fresno in April of 2000, at the invitation of the Armenian Studies Program, to show her documentary Surviving the Richter Scale, a film on the 1988 earthquake in Armenia. For that film, Artinian received six awards, including Best Documentary at the 29th Canadian Student Film Festival. Her latest work is destined for similar success, based on the reaction of the audience.
Artinian began her journey by exploring her father’s obsession with being Armenian and the obsession of preserving his culture through his actions, as well as his family’s. In preserving the Armenian culture her father had preached that Artinian and her younger sister could only marry Armenians and not odars (non-Armenians). Her findings left her discontented, so she dug deeper.
Ultimately, her fascination with her father and her own boundaries in dating men lead her to the Armenian Genocide. After learning about the Genocide, and everything it encompasses, she too becomes obsessed with the Armenian Genocide, the event itself, its ramification for the Armenians today, as well as the dishonorable actions of the modern Turkish government.
Her film documents her initial curiosity all the way to her going incognito into modern Turkey and historic Armenia, where she secretly filmed the perceptions of inhabitants of the land, as well as modern day Turks. The imminent danger of getting caught is very apparent in the film as she pretends to be a young girl simply touring Turkey. She secretly tapes a Turkish tour guide as he tells the history of some former Armenian provinces. It becomes apparent that some of the information the tour guide is providing is inaccurate, as the other tourists begin asking questions that the tour guide, nor the Turkish government for that matter, are prepared to answer with any honesty.
I think the film is great for the reason that it is not simply a gloomy Genocide tale. The events that took place during the Genocide speak for themselves, and are utterly painful when discussed by the survivors. However, this film has more to it. Artinian does a great job of relating her family, her social life, and other issues to the Genocide. The audience gets to know her. Her fun demeanor provided the audience with several moments of humorous solace. Her mere presence in the film adds a very friendly and comforting ambience.
The Genocide in Me is a co-production of Information Films Inc. and Araz Artinian Productions. The film had the financial support of SODEC, and the Canada Council for the Arts. It is a very well made film that has seized the attention of our generation, and is bound to be discussed by future ones.