1-22 Nov: Sergei Parajanov: Centennial Celebration

Sergei Parajanov: Centennial Celebration

https://bampfa.org/program/sergei-parajanov-centennial-celebration

November 1–22, 2024

The exceptional Armenian filmmaker Sergei Parajanov (1924–1990) was born and lived a good portion of his life in Tbilisi, Georgia. He studied filmmaking in Moscow at VGIK, where one of his teachers and mentors was Oleksandr Dovzhenko. The initial part of his career was spent in Ukraine, where he made his first films, including the pivotal Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors and Kyiv Frescoes. From there he made a series of remarkable films: The Color of PomegranatesThe Legend of Suram Fortress, and Ashik Kerib. Shot on location in Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, respectively, these films cemented his reputation as an artist who worked across transnational boundaries in his exploration of myth and cultural traditions. Parajanov’s films have been extremely influential, though he struggled against the Soviet authorities, who banned and censored the films. He was arrested multiple times and served prison time because of his subversive behavior and sexual orientation.

This centennial tribute offers viewers a chance to see Parajanov’s best-known features, plus several of his rarely shown short films. His powerful use of symbolism and metaphor creates extraordinary, indelible images, and his use of eclectic objects, color, and costumes is unique in both style and approach. Patrick Cazals’s documentaries Sergei Parajanov: The Rebel and The Muse and the Magician offer important insights into the artist’s biography and aesthetic approach. BAMPFA will hold a symposium, which is free and open to the public, on Saturday, November 2, bringing scholars and experts together to speak about Parajanov and his legacy.

—Susan Oxtoby, Director of Film and Senior Film Curator

14 Nov: From Paris to Yerevan: Communist Armenian Women and the Post-WWII Soviet Repatriation Campaign

From Paris to Yerevan: Communist Armenian Women and the Post-WWII Soviet Repatriation Campaign

Dr. Lerna Ekmekcioglu

4 p.m. 
3335 Dwinelle Hall, South Dr, Berkeley, CA 94720 

Armenian women participated in the French Resistance against the Nazis during WWII. Many of these women were former Ottoman subjects and some were survivors of the Armenian Genocide or their daughters. In 1942, they founded the Union des femmes arméniennes in Paris, which remained an underground organization until liberation. After the war’s conclusion and in response to Stalin-approved repatriation campaigns in Soviet Armenia, the Union promoted the communist fatherland as a feminist heaven. In a way, then, the fatherland was the true motherland. This paper delves into the hitherto unknown history of Armenian working-class women’s political subjectivities in postwar Europe.

Speaker’s Bio:

Lerna Ekmekcioglu is McMillan-Stewart Associate Professor of History and the director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at MIT. Her first monograph, Recovering Armenia: The Limits of Belonging in Post-Genocide Turkey,came out from Stanford University Press in 2016. Dr. Ekmekcioglu has published articles on various topics, including Armenian demands at the 1923 Lausanne Conference, an Armenian woman’s memoirs about her years at Constantinople’s Central Prison during WWI, and French Armenian communist women’s organizing in post-war Paris for repatriation to Soviet Armenia. Currently, Dr. Ekmekcioglu is co-authoring a book and digital humanities project titled Feminism in Armenian: An Interpretive Anthology and Documentary Archive (IUP Ottomanica, 2025).Contact Info:

Dzovinar Derderian, armenian@berkeley.edu

15-17 Nov: Golden Gate Armenian Film Festival

Golden gate Armenian Film festival to take place on No. 15-17th at “Vogue” movie theatre in San Francisco. 

Special guest, Director Edgar Baghdasaryan, Screening of “Yasha and Leonid Brezhnev” followed by Q/A with the Director.

Tickets and the three day program are available at: www.gaff.art

More info about the films, Directors and other info at 

GGAFF Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/p/Golden-Gate-Armenian-Film-Festival-100071632466645/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goldengatearmenianfilmfestival/

We are pleased to introduce the program of screenings for the First Edition of Golden Gate Armenian Film Festival, November 15-17th held at “Vogue” movie theatre in San Francisco.

November 15th:

1:30pm: “Yeva”(2017),

Dir. Anahid Abad

4:30pm: “Missak et Meline Manouchian” (2024)

Dir. Katia Guiragossian

7:30pm: “Yasha and Leonid Brezhnev” (2024)

Dir. Edgar Baghdasaryan (Live Q/A)

November 16th:

1:30pm: “Should the wind drop” (2020)

Dir. Nora Martirosyan

4:30pm: “There was, There was not” (2024)

Dir. Emily Mkrtichian

7:30pm: “Luka” (2023)

Dir. Jessica Woodworth (Anzhela Frangyan, Producer)

November 17th:

1:30pm: “Tonratun” (2023) , a film by Inna Mkhitaryan https://vimeo.com/798289078 the subtitles are available when you click on “cc” button.

4:30pm: “Aurora’s Sunrise” (2022)

Dir. Inna Sahakyan

7:30pm: “1489” (2023)

Dir. Shoghakat Vardanyan

Ticket information will be available soon.

More information, official trailers, synopsizes and interviews with film directors on GGAFF fb page: https://www.facebook.com/p/Golden-Gate-Armenian-Film-Festival-100071632466645/

15 Dec: Asmik Grigorian, soprano; Lukas Geniušas, piano

Dec 15, 2024, 3pm 

Hertz Hall

Tickets start at $78

Lest there be any doubt that Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian is among the most electrifying performers of her generation, the Guardian has compared her voice to “velvet-wrapped steel” and Classical Source has described “words pouring from her like streams of molten lava.” Having sung lead roles in Madama Butterfly, Jenůfa, and Salome to great acclaim in recent seasons, Grigorian makes a rare US visit in an all-Russian-language Cal Performances debut recital, performing rarely heard songs—“small pieces of opera in a few minutes,” she calls them—by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff. She is joined by frequent collaborator, pianist Lukas Geniušas.This performance is made possible, in part, by S. Shariq Yosufzai and Brian James.

Armenian Needlelace: Poetry in Thread

Our upper-floor, northwest gallery exhibit, Armenian Needlelace: Poetry in Thread, is now open for tours by appointment. Tours with curator Elise Youssoufian are conducted Monday, Friday, and some Saturdays.
     Our permanent collection is home to thousands of precious textile works of art, but perhaps most remarkable and splendid of them all are the many delicate Armenian needlelace circles. We invite you to join us in celebrating their makers’ immense skill and handiwork, their exuberant creativity, and their exceptional persistence.

Beginning August 16th, exhibit tours will be available most Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 1pm or 3pm, by appointment. All Lacis exhibit tours are free for museum members with up to four guests; otherwise, they are $3 per person. To book a tour, please call Lacis at 510.843.7290 or email info@lacismuseum.org.

Opening night is on August 9, 2024 from 6-8 pm.

You must make an appointment to visit the exhibit after August 9, Tour appointment Call (510-843-7290)

Hamazkayin SF Nigol Aghpalian chapter is proud to sponsor this beautiful event.

https://lacismuseum.org/exhibits.html