2001_05 Hye Sharzhoom Newspaper May 2001

              May 2001
Hye Sharzhoom
7
2nd Annual Armenian Festival Brings Attention to New Directors
By Barbara Harutinian
Staff Writer
Films by four young Armenian directors played the
big screen at the Alice Peters Auditorium during the 2nd Annual Armenian Film Festival presented by the Armenian Students
Organization as part of the Diversity Awareness Program of the
University Student Union, on April
20,2001.
Despite the rainy weather, a
large crowd of people came and
enjoyed an evening watching films
with a wide range of themes.
The evening started at 7:30
p.m. with a film titled Gyumri-Ar-
menia by Maria Hacopian Scott.
This 20-minute docudrama of post-
earthquake Armenia depicted the
hardships
that the
residents
of Gyumri
struggle
through in
their daily
lives trying to survive the
cofd winter snow.
Two local
reporters
speak with
those begging in the streets and
enter the rundown homes of fami-
Edwin Avaness
lies who try to decide whether they
should spend their money on bread
or firewood. This film embodied
much emotion that channeled
through to the audience.
Morning Execution, a 10-
minute film about a woman who
takes revenge on
a German soldier
who killed her
lover, was the
second film presented at the festival. Directed by
Edwin Avaness,
Morning Execution took place in
France during
World War II.
This highly serious and sus-
penseful film was
very entertaining to
the last bang.
The third film
was titled Stream of
Social Intercourse by
Serj Minassian.
Stream of Social Intercourse was a film
about a young man
with social anxiety
disorder and his psychiatrist. Throughout the film there are
comical incidents
where the young man
deals with his problems of interacting with other people, specifically
Serj Minassians
with his fear of interacting with one
particular woman. The psychiatrist
teaches his client basic skills to
help him get over his fears and
suggests the client try them out at a
party that evening. It turns out that
the psychiatrist was also at the party
and while in a
drunken mess,
creates a situation that further strengthens his client's
anxieties.
Stream of So- .
cial Intercourse was
Minassian's
senior project
and it has won
six major
awards in various film festivals around the country.
The last films of the evening,
Pennywise and Regret, were directed by Sarkis Tarkhanian. The
film Pennywise is about the exploration of a man's struggle with himself. This film, which had no dialogue, was visually entertaining.
The music that went along with the
film added an intense touch.
The film Regret was short but
very thought-provoking and serious. It was about a character who
learns horrible news and commits
suicide. At the end of the film, the
audience let out a huge gasp when
they found out that the horrible
news was that the character was
HIV positive.
Audience members had the
opportunity to ask the directors
questions after each movie was
screened.
With such great films being
shown, the evening came to an end
at around 9:30 p.m. Those who
attended the 2nd Annual Armenian
Film Festival agreed that the films
presented were absolutely spectacular and very
entertaining.
Talar
Atarian, Secretary of the Armenian Students Organization and coordinator ofthe Film
Festival,
worked extremely hard in
bringing a group
of highly talented filmmakers to Fresno State for the evening
festival.
Although Maria Hacopian
Scott was unable to attend, Talar
Atarian read Scott's remarks about
the film. Scott was bom in Iran and
has studied in London and the
United States.
Edwin Avaness received his
Bachelor of Arts Degree in film
production at the University of Cali-
Sarkis Tarkhanian
fomia, Santa Cruz and a Master of
Arts Degree from Northwestern
University's Radio-TV-Film Program. Avaness has been an active
executive board member of Arpa
Foundation for Film, Music, and
Arts since 1988, and also a committee member of AFFMA International Film Festival.
Serj Minassian was bom in
Tehran, Iran and moved with his
family to the United States in 1979.
He attended California State Uni-
v e r s i t y ,
Northridge
where he was
completing his
BA in Electrical engineering. During this
time, he was
also taking
some film
courses and
later decided to
change his major to film production.
Sarkis Tarkhanian was bom
in Lebanon and was raised in
Fresno. He is currently attending
the University of California, Santa
Cruz where he is majoring in Film
and Digital Media. He is now a
senior and is planning on attending
either USC or UCLA for graduate
work.
*fe s*
Financial Aid Directory
for Students
of Armenian Descent
www.aaamc.org
Armenian Assembly of America
CATHOLICOS, Cont. from
Page 1
special efforts to meet with them
while on his pastoral visits.
The Fresno State appearance
marked the only visit to a college
campus by His Holiness, who was
making his first Pontifical visit to
the United States and Canada since
his election as Catholicos in October of 1999.
Several years earlier, then
Archbishop Karekin Nersissian had
made a private visit to the Armenian Studies Program, where he
met with Dr. Dickran Kouymjian,
Berberian Professor of Armenian
Studies and Barlow Der
Mugrdechian of the Armenian
Studies Program. They had discussed issues concerning the Armenian Church in general.
His Holiness was in the San
Joaquin Valley from May 7-10,
celebrating Divine Liturgy at St.
Paul Armenian Church on Monday, May 7. He also visited local
valley parishes, the Armenian Community School, and the California
Armenian Home.
His Holiness Karekin II was
accompanied by Archbishop
Vatche Hovsepian, Primate of the
Western Diocese of the Armenian
Church, Archbishop Hovnan
Derderian, Primate of the Canadian Diocese of the Armenian
Church and Bishop Navasard
Ktshoyan, Patriarchal Vicar of the
Araratian Diocese in Armenia. Fr.
Arshen Ayvazian, pastor of the St.
Paul Armenian Church in Fresno
accompanied the Catholicos as interpreter.
His Holiness Karekin II was
born in 1951 in the village of
Voskehat in Armenia. He graduated from the Theological Seminary of the Monastery of Holy
Etchmiadzin in 1971. In 1972 he
was ordained a celibate priest by
His Holiness Vazken I.
On October 23, 1983 he was
ordained a bishop in the Cathedral
of Holy Etchmiadzin and in 1992
he was raised to the rank of Archbishop.
He was elected as 132nd
Catholicos of All Armenians on
October 27, 1999.
Books Available Through the
Armenian Studies Program
ClNlil
Portraits of Survival
Armenia: Portraits of Survival
Photographs by Jerry Berndt
Introduction by Donal E. Miller
$15.00
Saroyan's Armenians:
An Anthology
Edited by Alice K. Barter
$15.00
Send your checks made
payable to:
Armenian Studies Program
5245 N. Backer Ave. PB4
Fresno, CA 93740-8001
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Warsaw Visitor:Tales
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$13.95 Soft Cover