Ararat (film)
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| Directed by | Atom Egoyan |
| Produced by | Atom Egoyan Robert Lantos |
| Written by | Atom Egoyan |
| Starring | Charles Aznavour Christopher Plummer David Alpay Arsinée Khanjian Eric Bogosian Brent Carver Marie-Josée Croze Lousnak Simon Abkarian Garen Boyajian |
| Music by | Mychael Danna |
| Cinematography | Paul Sarossy |
| Distributed by | Miramax Films |
| Release date(s) | May 20, 2002 (premiere at Cannes) September 20, 2002 (Armenia) 15 November 2002 (USA) 18 April 2003 (UK) April 13, 2006 (Turkey, TV premiere) |
| Running time | 115 minutes |
| Country | Canada France |
| Language | English Armenian French German |
Ararat is a 2002 film directed, written, and co-produced by Atom Egoyan based loosely on the Siege of Van during the Armenian Genocide, an event that is disputed by the government of Turkey. In addition to exploring the human impact of that specific historical event, the film also examines the nature of truth and its representation through art. Ararat stars Charles Aznavour, Christopher Plummer, and David Alpay.
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[edit] Background and structure
Ararat depicts the efforts of an Armenian director, Edward Saroyan (Charles Aznavour), to make a Hollywood-style film about the Armenian genocide, from the fictionalised point of view of a genuine historical figure, Arshile Gorky. The name of Aznavour's character is a modified version of his character's real name in the classic French film Shoot the Piano Player.
As the filming progresses, various characters involved with it encounter the ethical problems that arise when adaptating contentious subjects into movies; for example, Elias Koteas plays Ali, a Turkish-Canadian actor who becomes uncomfortable with playing the role of an evil Turkish military officer. There are also a number of secondary plots that relate to the genocide. One involves the relationship between Ani (played by Arsinee Khanjian), an art historian who is an expert on Gorky and an adviser on Saroyan's film, and her son Raffi (David Alpay). Another features Raffi and a Canadian customs official, David (Christopher Plummer), whose son is having a homosexual relationship with Ali, the actor in Saroyan's film. David stops Raffi at the airport, suspecting him of carrying drugs into Canada, disguised as film canisters.
The film also features roughly shot documentary camcorder footage of Lake Van and real ruined Armenian churches in the deserted city of Ani, near Mount Ararat.
[edit] Cast
- David Alpay as Raffi
- Charles Aznavour as Edward Saroyan
- Eric Bogosian as Rouben
- Christopher Plummer as David
- Marie-Josée Croze as Celia
- Arsinée Khanjian as Ani
- Brent Carver as Philip
- Bruce Greenwood as Martin Harcourt, the actor playing Clarence Ussher
- Elias Koteas as Ali, the actor playing Jevdet Bey
- Lousnak as Shoushan, mother of Arshile Gorky
- Simon Abkarian as Arshile Gorky
- Garen Boyajian as young Arshile Gorky
[edit] Reception
The film was screened out of competition at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.[1] It was then given only a limited release in most countries, and failed to make a significant gross at the box office.[2]
Ararat won several awards. At the 2003 Genie Awards for best Canadian film, it was named best film of the year, and picked up awards for costume design and original score; in addition, Arsinée Khanjian won the best actress award and Elias Koteas best supporting actor. Egoyan won a prize from the Writers Guild of Canada awards, 2003. The film also won an award for best human rights film from the Political Film Society, and won the Golden Apricot at the Yerevan International Film Festival, 2004. An edited version of Ararat has been shown on the Turkish television station Kanal Turk.
Critical reception was mixed. Ararat received a 57 percent rating at Rotten Tomatoes[3] and a metascore of 62 ("Generally favorable reviews") at Metacritic.[4]
The Italian release of Ararat was intended to be on April 24, 2003. However, its showing was unexpectedly banned by Italian authorities a day before the planned release, with the authorities explaining that the film's distributor had failed to submit in time the application to obtain the required censorship certificate. The film's distributor BIM Diztribuzione stated that they had never encountered such a problem before. There was media speculation that the film had actually been banned at the request of Turkey.[5]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Festival de Cannes: Ararat". festival-cannes.com. http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/3158397/year/2002.html. Retrieved 2009-11-01.
- ^ Ararat at Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 7, 2008.
- ^ Ararat at Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 7, 2008.
- ^ Ararat at Metacritic. Retrieved June 28, 2008.
- ^ Asbarez Online (04-28-2003) "Italy Bans Release of Atom Egoyan's Ararat".
[edit] External links
- Canadian Film Encyclopedia
- Moving the Mountain - Time Magazine
- John Walker. (2010). "Arshile Gorky on screen: Ararat (2002) film review. artdesigncafe. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
- Official site on Miramax.com
- Ararat at the Internet Movie Database
- Ararat at Rotten Tomatoes
- Ararat at Metacritic
- Ararat at Box Office Mojo
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