Turkish-Armenian movie premiere held in Ankara

Tarih: Haziran 16, 2013

Ankara’s Büyülü Fener Theater was the venue for an evening hosted by the Turkish-Armenian Business Development Council (TABDC), the Armenian Marketing Association and the United States Embassy in Turkey on Tuesday.
The reason for the event was the premiere of a new film, “Aras Kıyılarında,” or “On the Banks of the Aras,” a joint venture involving all the institutions and organizations mentioned above as well as the US Embassy in Armenia.Co-directed by Gevorg Nazaryan and Serdar Dinler, and based on a story written by Dinler and Aram Navasardyan, the movie’s two major characters are Tamer (played by Sabina Muradyan) and Aras (played by Bulut Öngüner), with Tamer living in Armenia and Aras in Turkey. Tamer’s work brings her into contact with Aras, and the two begin an Internet-based exchange of viewpoints about their countries, their history as well as the present. The river Aras is used both as a symbol of today’s border separating Armenia from Turkey and a manifestation of its people’s common heritage and future. The film leaves its end open, allowing for speculation about whether one day Tamer will be able to meet Aras. Filmed on location and using the magnificent countryside as its background, the movie does not point fingers and does not try to put blame on any one side. It is much more than a movie about a potential future romance — it is a film that creates awareness about two countries living side by side with a closed border separating them from each other. Upon welcoming guests, Dinler, a member of the TABDC executive team, stressed the relevance of engaging civil society, noting that the movie is not of a commercial nature. Speaking with Today’s Zaman, Nergis Öztürk, one of the two scriptwriters and editors and also a member of the TABDC executive team, stated that opening the border is not only a civil society requirement but would bring along much needed trade and business. She said both peoples must learn more about each other and described how exciting it had been to shoot the movie on location. Thomas M. Leary, public affairs counselor at the US Embassy in Ankara, who addressed the guests before the screening, later told Today’s Zaman that the US Embassy in Ankara and the US Embassy in Yerevan had co-sponsored the making of the film as part of their civil society engagement and that further civil society projects and the dissemination of their results — albeit not necessarily linked with Armenia — were in the pipeline for 2010. Suat Kınıklıoğlu, deputy chairman of external affairs for the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and spokesman for the Turkish Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, was also in attendance. The uniqueness of this film premiere can be attributed to the fact that individuals and their stories — even if scripted — often allow for a better understanding of the wider picture. While statesmen must continue to meet and create the regulatory framework for rapprochement between both nations, ultimately citizens must learn how to live with each other more closely again. “Aras Kıyılarında” is much more than a movie!
24.12.2009
Arts & Culture
KLAUS JURGENS Today`s Zaman