2021-07-02 11:00:56
878
FILM HERITAGE
 |
The National Cinema Centre of Armenia is the primary state body sponsoring the production of cinema in the country and also the main institution currently tasked with the preservation, dissemination and study of Armenian cinematic heritage. The NCCA holds the rights to over 400 feature, short, documentary and animated films released by the Hayfilm studios between 1926 and 2007. Among the classics is the first Armenian feature film 'Namus' directed by Hamo Bek-Nazarian in 1926, Sergei Paradjanov's timeless 1969 masterpiece 'The Colour of Pomegranates', Frunze Dovlatyan's 1965 'Hello, It's Me' – the first Soviet-Armenian film to be included in Cannes' Official Competition, as well as masterworks by filmmakers like Armand Manaran, Gevorg Melik-Avagyan, Albert Mkrtchyan, Henrik Malyan, Karen Gevorgyan, Dmitri Kesayants and Harutyun Khachatryan. |
In 2020 the NCCA established a dedicated department for Film Heritage, which oversees all aspects of research and preservation pertaining to the legacy of Armenian cinema. The department has also organized a film archive, which holds collections of documentary and moving-image material related to the film history in the region.
Among the most recent film restoration projects realized by the NCCA in collaboration with Poland's Fixafilm studios are the six-hour long outtakes from Sergei Paradjanov’s masterpiece The Colour of Pomegranates, 1969, as well his short film Hakob Hovnatanyan, 1967. Both projects were exhibited and screened extensively in various major international film festivals.
TEMPLE OF THE CINEMA
Installation exhibition of the restored out-takes from S. Parajanov’s ‘The Color of Pomegranates’ undertaken by NCCA and Polish Fixafilm studio.
 |
 |
 |
OTHER PROJECTS UNDERWAY
 |
Heritage of minor cinemas UNESCO-sponsored international conference This year the Film Heritage department is organizing on the heritage of minor cinemas, a digitization project devoted to films by Armenian women filmmakers, a large-scale initiative to subtitle the classics of Armenian cinema, along with a series of exhibitions and publications dedicated to the 100th anniversary since the establishment of the Armenian film industry in 1923. |
|
|
THE HIDDEN VOICE: digitizing Armenian women filmmakers Women film-makers constitute one of the most active forces in Armenian film industry today. However, up until the 2000s, there were only a handful female directors in Armenian cinema, and only one – the documentarist Ruzanna Frangulyan – managed to have a successful career during the Soviet period. The current project aims to document, digitize, restore and re-release all films by Armenian women directors made between the 1950s and 2000s, as a way of addressing this historical quandary and encourage new generations of young women to step behind the camera and make their voice heard. The project will is currently underway and will be finalized at the end of 2023. |
Frangulyan Ruzanna, 1967
Meeting with the morning star
|
|
IN ANOTHER'S EYE: Panorama of Armenian Cinema in Socialist Film Poster Art Dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Armenian cinema, this major exhibition will be held in 2023 and will include over 120 vintage film posters from ten socialist countries that advertise Armenian films released between the 1940s and 1990s. Aside from its significant historical value, the collection features stunning masterworks by some of the greatest film poster artists from Russia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Latvia, Cuba and other countries. The exhibition aims to reveal the strong presence of Armenian films on the European screen and showcase the stunning diversity of film poster art from the countries of the socialist block. |
Kamo
Poland, 1959