12th Annual Armenian Film Festival at Fresno State

The Armenian Students Organization and Armenian Studies Program of California State University, Fresno are co-sponsoring the 12th Annual Armenian Film Festival, from 7:00-10:00 PM on Friday, March 4, 2011. The Film Festival will take place in the Industrial Technology Building, Room 101 (at the southwest corner of Barstow Ave and Campus Drive) on the Fresno State campus.

One of the featured films for the Festival is Akhtamar. The film is about a mysterious taxi driver who is hailed by a handsome young Muscovite, who has traveled to Armenian to meet his girlfriend. The driver senses his fare’s troubled state of mind and recounts the Legend of Akhtamar, offering the ancient wisdom of its heartfelt message. The film stars Armen Dzigarkhanyan and is written and directed by the Shammasian Brothers of London.

Director Serge Avedikian’s Chienne d’Histoire [Barking Island] is a winner of the Best Short Film award at the Cannes Film Festival. The short movie, highlights an event from the history of Constantinople in 1910, where the newly established Turkish government decides to deport stray dogs to a deserted island away from the city.

Fifth Column is directed by Vatche Boulgourdjian. The film chronicles desperation and mourning in the Armenian quarter of Beirut through a weave of allegorical narratives. In a panic, Hrag has stolen his father’s gun and fled home. As father searches for son, both discover paths to personal freedom in a city that offers no escape.

The films, in English or Armenian, are all directed and produced by a new generation of Armenian film-makers.
This program is supported, in part, by the Thomas A. Kooyumjian Family Foundation.

The 12th Annual Armenian Film Festival is open to the public and admission is free. Parking restrictions are relaxed in all lots near the venue. For more information about the Film Festival, call the Armenian Studies Program office at 559-278-2669.