A record six Australian films will premier at this year’s Armenian Film Festival Australia, the director of the 10th gathering has revealed.
The festival, which runs until November 1, kicked off with a gala screening of the Australian premiere of the biographical film Vazgen: The Last Sparapet.
Traditionally reliant on international sourced features, this year’s festival is flush with Australian-Armenian productions.
“This is quite something new for the festival,” said Hourie Demirjian, co-founder and co-director of AFFA.
“We’ve only really had one Australian production in the past decade … we’ve got quite a few emerging filmmakers coming through the festival which we’re really excited about.”
In an effort to further bolster the interest of younger Armenian-Australian’s in filmmaking, the festival is launching the AFFA Film and Screen Lab, which Demirjian said aims to bring together world-class talent to “nurture and develop the potential of emerging filmmakers”.
All of our stories show the hardship, but underlying that is that sense of resilience.
Hourie Demirjian, festival co-director
Fronting this surge is Tigran Tovmasian, a self-taught filmmaker from Western Sydney, whose debut short film, The Circus Lion, recently qualified for the Academy Award longlist following its win as Best International Film at the Bengaluru International Short Film Festival.
Demirjian said Tovmasian brought a unique creative perspective to The Circus Lion, and praised the film’s win for putting the festival and filmmakers on the map.
“He brings a lot of depth to his filmmaking,” added Demirjian. “It’s quite an emotional storyline … and he’s balanced the emotion and the physicality of the talent in such a unique way.”
This year’s festival also features a curated ‘Best of AFFA’ collection of popular films featured in past editions. These include In the Land of Arto, Armenia’s submission for Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards; A Winter’s Song, the first locally filmed Armenian romantic-comedy, and a special 10th anniversary screening of Lion followed by a Q&A with its Armenian-Australian executive producer, Shahen Mekertichian.
The opening night at Event Cinemas Top Ryde in northern Sydney was attended by VIPs, filmmakers, and cinemagoers and featured traditional Armenian food and music. Photo by Berj Varjabedian.
Ultimately, however, Demirjian said the festival’s broader influence lies in its ability to transform the Armenian story from one of societal burden and trauma – from the 1915 Armenian genocide to the recent displacement of native Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh – into one of resilience and determination.
“All of our stories show the hardship, but underlying that is that sense of resilience,” he said. “The appeal of the festival is that they (Armenians) get to see their own stories reflected on the screen.”
The Armenian Film Festival Australia is screening at Event Cinemas Top Ryde until November 1 and includes a number of cultural events, talks with filmmakers and workshops. For more information and to book tickets CLICK HERE.
Main image scene from Amerikatsi, directed by Michael Goorjian.
