Documentary screening reveals the stories of Armenians
The stories of millions of Armenians and Turks, lost families and hidden faces are coming to the big screen as a documentary screening at AG Leventis Gallery this March 18 presents Armenians: The Hidden Grandmothers.
Directed by Alexandra Routhiau Mikaélian, the film follows the story of a French woman of Armenian descent, who made a promise to her grandfather to find their family members in Turkey based on a first name: Sahimé, the sister he never met. Through this journey through time in search of the living, Alexandra will lift the veil on one of the most deeply rooted taboos in Turkish society, one for which one still risks one’s life.
This story is the story of many Armenians and Turks, those called the ‘hidden Armenians’ or ‘the remnants of the sword,’ descendants of the women and children converted and forcibly integrated into the Turkish population during the Armenian Genocide. For the first time, the missing stories of these women victims, these ‘Armenian grandmothers’ who passed on their stories in whispers are hitting the surface.
Mikaélian is a French writer, director and producer of Armenian descent. After ten years as a journalist for French national television channels, she attended La Fémis school and began creating and producing her own documentaries. Now as a documentary filmmaker, she focuses her work on the memory of the Armenian diaspora, a form of film therapy framed by the intersection of family stories and universal History. Beyond emotions, her cinema pursues the dream of making films that bring people together and build bridges between peoples.
The screening is part of the gallery’s Wednesday lecture series and will begin at 7.30pm. Entrance to the screening is free and it welcomes audiences from all backgrounds as the documentary will be screened in French with English subtitles.
Armenians: The Hidden Grandmothers
52-minute film directed by Alexandra Routhiau Mikaélian. March 18. A.G. Leventis Gallery, Nicosia. 7.30pm. Free entrance. Limited availability. In French with English subtitles. Tel: 22-668838. rsvp@leventisgallery.org