Playwriting & Screenwriting Contest Deadline - Feb.15

~ MFA Boston Armenian Film Festival ~


This series is organized by the Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance, www.armeniandrama.org and co-presented by the Armenia Fund, USA, Inc. www.armeniafundusa.org

Click here to buy tickets from the MFA

 


May 30 Friday

7:45 - The Lark Farm by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani (2007, 122 min.) $12, $15*

Followed by Lobby Reception (Free)

 

May 31 Saturday

7:45 - Big Story in a Small City by Gor Kirakosian (2007, 90 min.). $8, $10*

9:30 - Panel discussion - " "Issues Facing Young Armenian Film Makers Today" Featuring Carla Garapedian, Michael Goorjian, Hrag Yedalian, Gor Kirakossian (Free)

June 1 Sunday


6:30 - The People's Advocate: The Live and Times of Charles R. Garry by Hrag Yedalian (2007, 59 min.)
preceded The War Prayer by Michael Goorjian (2008, 14 min.). $8, $10*

8:00 - Calendar (1993, 74 min.) by Atom Egoyan

preceded by A Portrait of Arshile (1995, 4 min.) by Atom Egoyan. $8, $10*


All Movie tickets on sale from the MFA website only beginning May 1.

To put your name on a reservations list, call ADAA at 617-871-6764 and leave your name and number of tickets requested along with a phone number so someone can get back to you.

 

 

The Lark Farm

by The Paolo and VittorioTaviani

Friday, May 30, 7:45

Paolo E Vittori Tavianni (Vittorio a sin.)

Paz Vega

To view a trailer for this movie, click here

 

 

Big Story in a Small City

by Gor Kirakosian

Saturday, May 31, 7:45

...

To view a trailer for this movie, click here

 

 


The People's Advocate

by Hrag Yedalian

Sunday, June 1, 6:30

 

Charles Garry with Huey Newton

THE PEOPLE'S ADVOCATE Charles Garry with Black Panthers

 

To view a trailer for this movie, click here

 

 

The War Prayer

by Michael Goorjian


Michael Goorjian and Jeremy Sisto

Calendar by Atom Egoyan

A Portrait of Arshile by Atom Egoyan

Sunday, June 1, 8:00

 

 

GOR KIRAKOSIAN - BIO


Gor Kirakosian came in to film making out of a passion to tell his story. As a kid, inspired by comedy movies and all that American cinema had to offer he found his calling.

He was born in 1981, Yerevan, Armenia and came to the United States with his family when he was eleven, planting roots in Glendale, California. Gor quickly learned English and after graduating from John Marshall High School he attended Los Angeles City College. There he excelled, laying the groundwork for his time at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.

While attending Art Center, he was the in the top five percent of his class and along with his studies, he achieved great accomplishments. As a student he completed s short film “I hate the story of Romeo & Juliet” and a feature film “Big Story in a Small City” which was screened both in Armenia and Los Angeles. He received rave reviews, 6 international film festival awards, including “Best Foreign Film” in the Beverly Hills Film Festival, “Best Film” in DeadCenter Film Festival, “Best Comedy Film” in the Armenian Comedy Awards for his first feature film which he co-wrote, directed, and edited.

Graduating with honors, Gor received his Bachelors of Fine Arts in 2006. During his time in the various production stages of his features, Gor still found time to direct many music videos and commercials for the Armenian entertainment market. In 2006 Gor won “Best Music Video” at the Armenian Music Awards for Mihran’s “Just Like That” music video.

In Los Angeles, Gor directed 13 episodes of the Armenian highly acclaimed comedy show titled, “Demq Show” which won “Best TV Entertainment Show” in 2001 at the Armenian Music Awards. He also directed a stage show, “Armenian Demq Awards”, “Demq TV” and “Demq Telethon” which won “Best Cemedy Stage Show” in 2007 at the Armenain Comedy Awards.

Today, Gor continues to direct and edit both long and short forms of moving images. He continues to edit projects for other award winning directors. Gor has also completed the script for his second feature film which is soon going into preproduction.

MICHAEL GOORJIAN - BIO


Born in Oakland, California, Michael Goorjian started his acting career by going to an audition for a local community theater company; at the time thinking it was a cool way of getting out of class. After landing the lead role in a not-so-cool play called Computer Crazy, Michael then learned the play was going to be performed at schools around town, including his own, and that the rest of the cast would be comprised of senior citizens. Despite what, at fourteen, seemed like a humiliating experience, Michael stuck with acting and eventually ended up at UCLA's theater department.

Michael's first big Hollywood acting job, was as a dancer in the Disney musical, Newsies, (starring Christian Bale and Robert Duval.) From there he continued to work as an actor, and eventually won an EMMY AWARD for playing a young autistic boy in the television movie David's Mother, (with Christie Alley).

Michael is probably best known as "Justin" (Neve Campbell's boyfriend) on the hit series Party of Five. Some of his other acting credits include starring roles in the films: SLC Punk!, The Invisibles (opposite Portia DeRossi), the Oscar nominated Leaving Las Vegas, Hard Rain (with Morgan Freeman and Christian Slater), Chaplin (with Robert Downey Jr.), Forever Young (with Mel Gibson), Broken (with Heather Graham), and Conversations With God.

Michael started dipping into directing in his mid-twenties. With the help of friends in his hometown of Oakland, he made a few independent short films, a music video or two, and a mock-documentary called Oakland Underground. Eventually this led Michael to devote about 4 years of his life to making his first major independent film, Illusion, which stars Kirk Douglas.

Other recent directing works include a short film called Players' Club (which swept the 2006 Elevate Film Festival in Los Angeles, including Best Director), Mark Twain's The War Prayer (starring Jeremy Sisto), and the documentary You Can Heal Your Life (starring metaphysical lecturer and teacher, Louise L. Hay.)

Currently Michael lives in San Francisco, CA with his beautiful girlfriend Jolie and their two rabbits.

 

 

ATOM EGOYAN - BIO


Cairo-born, Canadian-bred and of Armenian descent, Atom Egoyan is one of the most celebrated contemporary filmmakers on the international scene.

Through his uniquely personal feature films and numerous related projects, he has created a remarkable body of work that has received both critical acclaim and commercial success around the world. Egoyan was raised in Victoria, BC, moving to Toronto at age 18 to study International Relations and classical guitar at the University of Toronto. It was there that he began to seriously explore the art and language of the cinema, and started making his own films which progressed to reflect his own, very personal thematic obsessions, delving into issues of intimacy, displacement and the impact of technology and media in modern life.

His debut feature, Next of Kin (1984) earned Egoyan the Genie nomination (Canadian Academy Award) for Best Director, and went on to win Germany's Mannheim International Film Week Gold Ducat Award, receiving theatrical distribution around the world. Family Viewing (1987) won the Locarno International Critics Prize, and was nominated for eight Genie Awards including Best Film. The film gained wide notoriety when Wim Wenders declined the jury prize at the Montreal Film Festival for his own film, Wings of Desire, and handed it over to Egoyan, his Canadian colleague. Next came Speaking Parts (1989), which marked his first Cannes premiere (Director's Fortnight), and earned even more international acclaim and Genie Award nods. The Adjuster (1991) premiered at Cannes in the Quinzaine des Realisateurs, and was awarded the Special Jury Prize at the Moscow International Film Festival. It went on to capture the Toronto/CITY Award for Best Canadian Film at the Toronto International Film Festival. 1993?s Calendar, shot in Armenia, earned the C.I.C.A.E. prize for Best Film in the Forum of New Cinema at the Berlin International Film Festival, and once again landed Egoyan Genie nominations for Best Direction and Screenplay.

Egoyan achieved a wider audience with the darkly mysterious Exotica (1994). The first English Canadian film to be invited into Competition at the Cannes Film Festival in nearly a decade, Exotica was awarded International Critics Prize for Best Film. Honoured by festival and critical associations around the world, Exotica received major worldwide release, including a 500-screen US release from Miramax Films. In Canada, released by Alliance, Exotica played theatrically for over half a year. The film swept the Genies, earning eight awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. The Sweet Hereafter (1997) had its world premiere in Official Competition at the 50th Cannes Film Festival where it became the most-honoured film of the Festival, winning The Grand Prize of the Jury as well as the International Critics Prize and the Ecumenical Award for Humanist filmmaking. The movie then opened the Toronto International Film Festival where it was doubly honoured with both the International Critics Award and the Toronto/CITY Award for Best Canadian Film. The Sweet Hereafter provided Egoyan a second sweep of the Genies by winning eight major awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Sold to virtually every possible worldwide market, The Sweet Hereafter was the subject of unprecedented critical response, named to more than 250 major top-ten lists for 1997. The Sweet Hereafter held the top position on more than two-dozen of those lists, including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and Newsweek. Egoyan received Academy Award nominations for his Directing and for his Adapted Screenplay. This made him the first Canadian to be so honoured for work in a Canadian Film. His next two films were Irish in origin. In 1999, Egoyan directed Felicia's Journey in Ireland and England. Based on the novel by William Trevor, starring Bob Hoskins, Elaine Cassidy and Arsinée Khanjian, it premiered in competition at Cannes, before opening the Toronto Film Festival and holding the prestigious closing night spot at the New York Film Festival. Produced by Icon Entertainment, this film earned another four Genie Awards. Krapp's Last Tape is an adaptation of Samuel Beckett's stage-play, starring John Hurt. This has been seen internationally since premiering in 2000 at the Venice Film Festival. Ararat, Egoyan’s meditation on the Armenian Genocide of 1915, was distributed in over thirty countries, after its premiere at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2002. It has won numerous awards, including Best Film at the 24th Durban Film Festival in South Africa, Best Film on Human Rights by the Political Film Society of Hollywood, the Freedom of Expression Award from the National Board of Review in New York, and the Genie award for Best Film from the Canadian Academy of Film and Television. Egoyan's most recent film, Where The Truth Lies, produced by Robert Lantos, stars Kevin Bacon, Colin Firth, and Alison Lohman, and is based on Rupert Holmes's novel by the same name. Where The Truth Lies premiered in competition at the 2005 Cannes International Film Festival, and had its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2005. His other works include many short films and original programs for television as well as a number of art installations presented internationally (including the Oxford Museum of Modern Art, Venice Biennale, and Le Fresnoy in France).

Exploring his long-standing interest in classical music, Egoyan made his debut as an opera director in 1996, with the Canadian Opera Company production of Salome. This production was subsequently presented in Houston and Vancouver before being remounted by the COC for a sold-out run in 2002. His original opera, Elsewhereless, composed by Rodney Sharman, written and directed by Egoyan, premiered in Toronto in 1998, and was remounted in Vancouver. Later that year he directed the world premiere of Gavin Bryars' Dr. Ox's Experiment for English National Opera in London. His art and theatre projects include the installation Steenbeckett, for London's Artangel's 10th anniversary, and Hors D'Usage, for Montreal's Le Musée d'art contemporain, which opened in the Fall of 2002. Egoyan's film works have been presented in numerous important retrospectives in major centers throughout the world. He has earned many exceptional honours in his career. There have been a number of books written about his work, and he co-edited a collection of essays, SUBTITLES: on the foreignness of film, published by MIT press in 2004.

Egoyan was President of the Jury at the 2003 Berlin Film Festival, and has served on juries in Cannes, Sundance, and Toronto. He was knighted by the French Government with the Chevalier des Arts et Lettres, and has received the Anahid Literary Award from the Armenian Center at Columbia University, and was inducted into the Order of Canada. He has received honorary doctorates from universities across Canada. Egoyan is currently working on the Canadian Opera Company's production of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle, directing Die Walkyrie. The successful production will be remounted next summer.

 

 

HRAG YEDALIAN - BIO


Hrag ventured into the world of documentary filmmaking during his last semester at UC Berkeley, where he studied history. Subsequently, he left UCLA School of Law to pursue an education at the American Film Institute Conservatory.

His first documentary, "The People's Advocate: The Life & Times of Charles R. Garry" chronicles the career of one of the twentieth century's most acclaimed civil rights attorneys. Called "illuminating" by The Hollywood Reporter, the documentary won the 2007 Bay Area Video Coalition Mediamaker Award and was identified by the San Francisco Chronicle as one of the highlights of the 30th Annual Mill Valley Film Festival, where the film premiered in October 2007.

Hrag is currently working on his second documentary, "Allah and America," which analyzes America's ambiguous relationship with the fourteen hundred year old religion and its adherents.

 

 

TAVIANI BROTHERS - BIO


Italian filmmaker Paolo Taviani and his brother Vittorio, known for their politically charged re-workings of historical events, began their long, fruitful collaboration while still in school. Their earliest films were documentaries, and their liberal political tendencies are already apparent in their first finished short San Miniato, July 1944(1954), a chronicle of a Nazi massacre in their hometown done in collaboration withCesare Zavattini.

The notorious resistance fighter Valentino Orsini was a friend and also had a tremendous effect on their work. The brothers gained notoriety in 1967 with the groundbreaking Subversives, a film that combined actual footage of a Communist leader's funeral with the story of four people for whom the death marks a major turning point in their political futures. With their feature films, the brothers Taviani share every aspect of filmmaking from writing and design, to directing. When they began in features, they adopted conventions of Neo-Realism by using non-pro actors, natural lighting, location shoots, natural sound, and working class scenarios. Later, they branched off in search of their own style of blurring the lines between traditional documentary and fictional features by presenting subjective views of actual facts to create a metaphorical look at history.

A good example of their vision and style can be seen in La notte di San Lorenzo (1984), a remake of their first film. The film reflects the Taviani's commitment to retelling history in a manner apropos to contemporary needs in order to prevent a repetition of its tragedies. Their latest film, The Lark Farm,is adapted from the roman by Antonia Arslan. The Lark Farm marks one of the few international features to tackle the Armenian genocide head-on.

 

 

The Armenian Dramatic Arts Alliance (ADAA) is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. It's mission is to make the Armenian voice heard on the world stage through the dramatic arts of theatre and film. The organization accomplishes this mission by supporting playwrights and screenwriters and provides production opportunities, commissions, scholarships, research tools, networking resources and writing awards. The organization is currently working on creating relationships with leading theaters in the United States to establish reading series so that the winning scripts – and other scripts by ADAA-affiliated playwrights -- will be seen and heard. ADAA’s headquarters are in Cambridge, MA with worldwide affiliates in Paris, Yerevan, Los Angeles, Boston, New York and other major cities.

 

 

 

 

 

 
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